Gavin ​Robinson asks Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to repair 'damage' done by Tory Rwanda policy

Under the deal Northern Ireland is bound by certain EU rights that the rest of the United Kingdom isn’t – raising concerns that could ultimately result on checks on people travelling within the United Kingdom.

A court ruling on the last government’s Rwanda policy made clear that it would not be possible to extend it to Northern Ireland. While the Protocol has caused controversy over its restrictions on free trade within the UK, a host of other commitments the Tory government made in its deal with the EU could have even more profound implications for Northern Ireland’s position in the UK.

Speaking during a ministerial statement on Monday about the government’s response to the violent disorder in England and Northern Ireland over the summer, the DUP leader raised the issue of immigration policy with Yvette Cooper.

The East Belfast MP said while the home secretary not responsible for policing in Northern Ireland, “she is responsible for immigration policy throughout the United Kingdom.

“Can I ask her at some stage to indicate to this house and to the country what steps she will take to repair the damage of the last government through the Illegal Migration Act and the Safety of Rwanda Act, which specifically, for the first time, now do not apply in Northern Ireland, following court judgment, because of the Windsor Framework.

“We no longer have a uniform immigration policy in this country, and can I ask her, as Home Secretary, what steps she will take to address that?”.

Ms Cooper said she was happy “to talk to him directly further about this. It's important. There are a whole series of areas where reforms are going to be needed, and there is an important debate to take place around border security, around the asylum system, around the way immigration rules operate, and so on”.

​The Labour Party committed in its general election manifesto to implementing the Irish Sea border arrangements “in good faith” as well as “protecting the UK internal market”.