Jim Allister: next PM ‘could find it easier to ditch protocol’

Commenting on the Tory leadership contest, Mr Allister said: “The choice for any prime minister must remain Stormont or protocol. United Kingdom or disunited Kingdom in which tax and legislative powers have been ceded to a foreign power.

“Indeed, in one sense, since Boris Johnson signed into existence the iniquitous protocol it might be even easier for someone else to ditch it.”

The TUV leader said no matter who wins the leadership race unionists should remain resolute in staying out of the Stormont institutions until the protocol is gone.

“These matters are beyond unionist control, but in respect of what we do control, namely our determination to be rid of the protocol and not to settle for less, that lies entirely in our own hands.

“Any weakening will be home grown. Thus, the essential thing is to stay strong whatever the complexion of HMG.”

Mr Allister added: “For me this battle is not shaped by who is prime minister but by the imperative of dismantling the Union-dismantling protocol.”

Earlier on Monday, Tory leadership candidate Suella Braverman vowed to scrap the post-Brexit agreement if she becomes the next prime minister.

The UK’s attorney general tweeted that the protocol “isn’t working and the legislation designed to tackle it must be improved”.

She added: “We must restore UK sovereignty and safeguard the Belfast Agreement. That means dealing with the Northern Ireland Protocol. As prime minister the EU would have no more say over taxes in Northern Ireland, and I would stop the direct flow of dynamic EU law into the Province.”

Ms Braverman, as the UK’s chief legal officer, has previously said that scrapping the protocol would be legal because the EU’s implementation of it had been “disproportionate and unreasonable”.

She has described the Belfast Agreement as having “primordial significance”, which in her opinion, overrides the importance of the protocol.

Her remarks on the protocol followed the line taken by former minister Jeremy Hunt who at the weekend said the protocol needed to be replaced even though he supported Remain during the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Sinn Fein said the Protocol Bill was reckless and harming the local economy.