New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must deal with Northern Ireland Protocol 'challenge', says DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson

The DUP is preventing the formation of a fully functioning devolved government at Stormont unless decisive action is taken to remove the Northern Ireland Protocol’s economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.In a statement, issued after Mr Sunak was confirmed as the Prime Minister in waiting, Sir Jeffrey said: “I congratulate Rishi Sunak on winning the leadership of his Party and becoming our next Prime Minister. There may be a focus on the unity of the Conservative Party, but the unity of our United Kingdom must be protected.

“The Northern Ireland Protocol has polluted every area of government. It is undermining our economy and jeopardising the supply of medicines. It is driving up transport costs and the price of goods on our shelves, worsening the cost-of-living crisis.”

He continued: “The Protocol is also incompatible with the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland. If the Prime Minister wants to see a fully functioning Stormont, then he must deal with it once and for all. “Delivering that solution would be a very powerful signal that that he is focused on building a better future for everyone.

“Everyone in Northern Ireland deserves a solution that can allow Stormont Ministers to get on with their job and make Northern Ireland a better place.”TUV leader Jim Allister, meanwhile, said: “If the new Prime Minister is truly to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, then, he must reverse the sovereignty-grab of the EU over Northern Ireland whereby Brussels’ laws govern much of our economy.

“This is the core constitutional issue which he must deal with. Restoration of Northern Ireland to an ‘equal footing’ with Great Britain in terms of trade between and within the United Kingdom (as required by Article 6 of the Acts of Union) and having us govern solely by UK laws is the touchstone.”

He continued: “It is the sovereignty issue which also determines the future of Stormont. Unless and until the EU’s ill-gotten sovereignty is retrieved there can be no progress. No self-respecting democrat, unionist or nationalist, should be prepared to have NI treated like a colony, subject to foreign EU laws we don’t make and can’t change because we have been abandoned to their foreign single market, customs code and vat regime.”

Mr Allister added: “It is how the Prime Minister deals with the Union-dismantling Protocol is how we will judge him.”The Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, however, said: “Rishi Sunak needs to recognise, even if a solution to the Protocol can be agreed with the EU, there remains an inherent instability at the heart of our institutions. The Protocol is only the latest in a long line of grievances to have collapsed Stormont. Until the institutions are reformed to remove the vetoes the largest parties wield over Executive formation, the crisis-collapse cycle will continue.”

She continued: “As this week’s deadline for the formation of an Executive fast approaches, the need for reform is more pressing than ever. Allowing those willing to participate in an Executive to do so would secure the long-term viability of the institutions and stop them being held hostage by any single in future.”