Northern Ireland politicians have been stabbed in the back over Protocol: Sir Reg Empey

Former UUP leader Lord Empey made the claim as he urged the Government to give Stormont’s policy-makers a seat at the negotiating table over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trade arrangements.

As the House of Lords continued line-by-line scrutiny of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, Lord Empey suggested that bringing devolved leaders into talks between the UK and the EU could end the standoff at the Stormont Assembly.

Former Labour MP Baroness Hoey observed how invisible checks on the Irish Sea are now being considered by the EU but they were once dismissed as “completely fanciful”, peers have heard.

She asked: “Maros Sefcovic actually talked about the need for fewer border checks and in fact that they could be invisible on the Irish Sea border.

“Does he not agree with me then that if it can be invisible on the Irish Sea border, then it can be invisible at the frontier, where of course checks should happen between one country and another independent country?”

Lord Dodds replied: “It appears that things may have moved on because once, all these ideas were dismissed as completely fanciful, indeed, unicorns were brought into play and all sorts of dismissive language was used.

“I’m glad that at least now there’s an acknowledgement that some of these checks can be done in the way that the noble lady has described, that Maros Sefcovic has talked about.

“But the important point here is that we have been told throughout the Brexit process, that there can’t be a single check, or there can’t be a single piece of infrastructure on the Irish border because otherwise that will lead to violence, that that will be attacked, that that will undermine the Belfast Agreement, without a single, hardly anyone, making the obvious point, well, if that is unacceptable, north-south, then it’s doubly unacceptable between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.”

Meanwhile former lord chief justice of England and Wales, Lord Judge, said the Government should be “ashamed” of wide and sweeping powers in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.