Local parties ‘should have input on protocol solution’ - Steve Aiken

Steve Aiken, the UUP’s finance spokesperson, said the UK government and the EU must take note of the commitee’s findings.

Mr Aiken said: “Quite clearly the local parties in Northern Ireland – who after all represent the people who live here – must be part of the negotiations to find workable solutions. It is abundantly clear that up until now, there have been many closed minds in Brussels and Dublin and that that simply has to stop.”

He said the Lords’ report on the protocol’s impact made “a number of very interesting and relevant points”.

Mr Aiken continued: “They picked up on the comments made by our party leader Doug Beattie, when giving evidence to the committee, that the protocol is having a ‘feast or famine’ economic impact, whereby businesses able to take advantage of North-South trade benefit, while those reliant on East-West trade lose out due to increased bureaucracy, staff resources, cost and delivery times, as well as restricting the ability of firms to respond flexibly to supply and demand.

“That is very obviously a major issue for us as unionists, because there should be no barriers to trade within our own country, the United Kingdom.”

He said the UUP supports the committee’s conclusion that the mitigation and grace periods that are currently in place and which significantly reduce the number of Irish Sea border checks should become permanent.

“We are also concerned at the disproportionately negative impact on SMEs, and the concerns that remain about the continued unwillingness of many firms in Great Britain to service markets in Northern Ireland.”

Mr Aiken said he also shared the committee’s concern that the economic data to conduct a comprehensive statistical analysis on the impact of the protocol is not yet available.

The UUP, like all the other unionist parties, opposed the NI Protocol but differ in tactics on how to overhaul it.

Doug Beattie’s party do not support the present DUP boycott of the Stormont institutions including entry into a new Executive.

On Wednesday the Assembly will be recalled after the SDLP tabled a petition forcing MLAs to return to the Stormont parliament to “test the DUP’s commitment to the devolved institutions”.

The recall was meant to happen this week but was postponed after the death of Lord Trimble.