‘Economic united Ireland grows before our eyes’ as Protocol negotiations drag on

Downing Street declared today that movement in the talks had been “limited”, whilst EU negotiator Maros Sefcovic dubbed them “disappointing”.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson indicated that the gulf between Northern Ireland and Great Britain is spreading as time ticks along.

He said that “without the Irish Sea Border removed, the damage that will be done to the Union will become greater as the UK and EU diverge” economically.

Sir Jeffrey had previously said he expected to take action (like collapsing Stormont) if there was no resolution of the Protocol problems by the end of October.

Today he said: “We will give space for those negotiations to continue, but they cannot run indefinitely.”

TUV leader Jim Allister voiced similar sentiments.

Asked if he believes the talks process will stretch on past Christmas, Mr Allister said: “I suspect it will.

“And the more it beds in [the Irish Sea border], the harder it’ll be to remove.”

On Friday, the News Letter carried details of a major report into Brexit conducted by the National Audit Office.

These auditors had combed over figures from the Republic’s Central Statistics Office, measuring exports from the Republic to Northern Ireland for the first seven months after the Irish Sea border came into being on January 1 this year.

These stats show such exports jumped by 47% compared with the previous year.

Meanwhile exports from Northern Ireland to the Republic increased by 61% compared with the same period a year earlier.

In short, the auditors concluded that these figures may well indicate that “trade is diverting from GB–NI trade routes, to Ireland–NI trade routes”.

Mr Allister said: “That is a manifestation of the building of the all-Ireland economy.

“And the all-Ireland economy is but a vehicle to deliver an all-Ireland politically.

“That’s how the EU built itself – through economic union.

“It’s the same strategy to try and deliver a united Ireland – to build an economic union on the island of Ireland and from that it’s a short step to political union.”

He added: “Every day the Protocol is in place is a day of loss to the United Kingdom, because our economy is re-orientating as more and more trade diverts.

“Unionism needs to recognise if this Protocol stays, the Union which we value will be gone.

“It’s dismantling the Union before our very eyes.

“Economic dislocation is a vehicle that’s allied to constitutional dislocation.”

He said that the government’s position over the last several months has been “quite untenable – they’re saying the grounds for Article 16 exist, and yet they won’t activate it”.

Article 16 basically allows the UK to side-step the Protocol in the event that it is causing major social or economic headaches.

A spokesman for top UK negotiator Lord Frost said today that the proposals put forward by the EU so far “ did not currently deal effectively with the fundamental difficulties in the way the Protocol was operating” (although he added that “these gaps could still be bridged”).

Mr Sefcovic sounded more pessimistic still, saying: “We have seen no move at all from the UK side.

“I found this disappointing and once again, I urge the UK Government to engage with us sincerely.”

No 10 has said there is no limit on how long talks with the EU can continue.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “We’re not going to give a timescale.

“Obviously we’re working very hard and we’re going to carry on trying in the discussions that we’re having.”

Sir Jeffrey voiced confidence that “we won’t have to wait much longer” to learn whether the negotiations are bearing fruit or not.

“The Government knows the consequences if talks fail to produce an acceptable outcome, or they fail to take the unilateral action required to remove the Irish Sea Border,” he said.

“We will go to the people in an election if we need to. Our position on this remains unchanged.”

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