Ian Paisley says DUP 'back to a solid basis of truth' over Irish Sea border

Speaking to Joel Taggart on BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Paisley said the deal was a “work in progress” and he is working to overturn some of the “great iniquity that has been inflicted upon us”. He said that progress was being made on issues such as veterinary medicines.

However, the fundamental issue the party faces is that the regulatory border has gone nowhere – and there are increasing concerns about issues like the carbon tax either leaving Northern Ireland in limbo, or facing more increased barriers with the rest of the country.

Asked if the Safeguarding the Union deal was oversold, Mr Paisley said “I think Gavin has created significant space for the party to tell the story properly, and allow for those of us who probably felt that there was a degree of spin in all of this. We’re back to a solid basis of truth.

“The public out there want one thing from their politicians and that’s truth – and I believe that they’re getting that”.

He said he told Sir Jeffrey Donaldson that it was important that the truth was told about the deal.

“We have got a number of commitments from the government. There’s already a number of statutory instruments put in place. The outworking of them is now important, and the timeframe for them working out – I think Gavin has already indicated that is not weeks but probably months to implementation”.

The DUP’s deal focuses on the green lane, and a promise of the government removing checks. However, it doesn’t remove the regulatory frontier – which leaves Northern Ireland highly susceptible to any divergence between the UK and EU – as the province will have to follow the EU.

The UK government can theoretically stop EU law – but Brussels reserves the right to take ‘appropriate remedial measures’. Given that the purpose of the entire deal is to protect the EU single market’s integrity – it seems unlikely that it wouldn’t.

Speaking to the BBC this week, Gavin Robinson said the deal would remove the Irish Sea border for goods moving within the UK by autumn.

In a part of a speech to the North Antrim DUP association on Tuesday night – released by the party – the interim DUP leader spoke about the new Irish prime minister Simon Harris, but it is not known what he said to members about the deal.

Mr Robinson said: “I congratulate Simon Harris on his election. The Republic of Ireland is our nearest neighbour and I want us to be good neighbours with sensible cooperation. Indeed, my predecessor and the former MP for this constituency, Dr Paisley led the way in advancing north-south cooperation on matters of mutual concern. Some of those projects are still in the system today.

“As the leader of unionism, I look forward to engagement with Simon Harris in due course. This is an opportunity for the Dublin Government to learn from the missteps of the previous administration which gravely damaged the southern relationship with unionists.

“Northern Ireland is a divided society; and progress has only ever been made through consensus. The relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland must be based on the Three Strands where there is respect shown by the Taoiseach for matters which are the preserve of the parties in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom government.”