Northern Ireland Assembly: Ben Habib says it is 'extraordinary' that Stormont to return on basis of DUP deal which has not been made public

Entrepreneur and former MEP Ben Habib was speaking after the DUP agreed to return to Stormont, after approving a deal secured with the government to address concerns caused by the NI Protocol.

The News Letter has asked the Northern Ireland Office why the details of the deal are not being released today.

“It is extraordinary that we do not have to hand a copy of the deal and the associated draft legislation - the passing of which, we are told, would be a precondition for the deal,” Mr Habib told the News Letter.

"From a constitutional perspective it is the legislation that matters. Parliament is sovereign and could, if it so chose, to do away with the Irish Sea border. This is what Unionists need to see – would the draft legislation remove the Irish Sea border?“If it indeed did have that effect, all Unionists, including me, would whoop for joy.

"Achieving this end would equate to the repudiation of the Windsor Framework/ Protocol. So, it would upset the EU and the Republic by the same measure it would please us. It would also represent the discovery of a backbone by our government.”

However, he added that, “given past precedent all the above is highly unlikely. I am therefore travelling in hope but am bracing myself for disappointment”.

Leading haulier Mark Tait, who has given extensive detailed evidence to Parliamentarians on the difficulties caused by the NI Protocol, was also unable to conclude whether the deal would help his industry.

“I would prefer to see what is actually in the deal first rather than what has been speculated on before I would make any judgement or comment,” he told the News Letter.

"We will need to sit down and study in detail what it means in practice for the haulage industry and whether it will remove any bureaucracy at our level."

John Martin​​​​, Policy Lead with the Road Haulage Association agreed.

“Without having the detail of what has actually been agreed and the associated legislative text to consider it's too early to give an informed view on what has been alluded to,” he said.

Similarly, Paul Jackson of McBurney Transport told the News Letter that it was “impossible to make an informed comment until one sees the documents. Until then and until we have looked into the detail, the devil is always in the detail.”

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) had previously warned that despite reforms to GB-NI trade outlined in the Windsor Framework (WF), EU regulations still posed a potentially serious risk to public health, food supplies, animal welfare and trade in Northern Ireland. It too said it was unable to say whether the DUP deal would assuage its concerns.

“We understand that the detail of the deal is not yet published and without seeing the detail we are not able to comment at this time,” a spokeswoman said.

Asked why the deal has not been published today, the Secretary of State Chris Heaton Harris did not address the question.

He told the News Letter: "As agreed with Sir Jeffery Donaldson and subject to the finalisation of all party talks today, I will tomorrow publish the details of the proposals we have made to secure Northern Ireland's place in the UK internal market and to strengthen the Union."

It is understood Mr Heaton Harris will set out more detail in the House of Commons tomorrow.