Northern Ireland Protocol: Sir Jeffrey Donaldson tells peers and MPs not to use bill to try to weaken Boris Johnson

The DUP leader urged parliamentarians to resist the temptation to oppose changes to the protocol as a means of further undermining Boris Johnson.

As the prime minister was trying to regain authority at a Cabinet meeting yesterday after Monday’s night bruising no confidence vote, Sir Jeffrey spent the day at Westminster meeting with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and MPs from across the house to win support for promised legislation on the protocol.

DUP MPs told the News Letter last night that they now expect the bill put forward by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to be published by tomorrow even though originally it has been suggested the legislation would be made public 24 hours earlier.

Speaking after his discussions with the Labour leader, Sir Jeffrey said: “I have urged people across Parliament, to recognise the seriousness of this matter and resist the temptation to play politics with Northern Ireland. The protocol threatens our place in the United Kingdom, endangers jobs for our people, drives up costs for consumers and reduces choice on our shelves.

“Real progress is only made in Northern Ireland when there is consensus, yet the protocol was foisted upon the people of Northern Ireland despite every unionist MLA and MP opposing it.

“It was madness to press ahead and ignore the unionist opposition. Unlike Westminster, we operate power-sharing in Northern Ireland, not majority rule. Not one unionist MLA supports the protocol. That represents more than 40% of the votes cast at the recent election.”

Sir Jeffrey, who will give evidence to the House of Lords Northern Ireland Protocol Sub-Committee today, emphasised that there was a “need for action” now on the post-Brexit trade deal.

He added: “It is progress that all sides now accept the need for change. A year ago, Brussels said ‘no renegotiation’ and Sinn Fein and the Alliance Party were calling for the protocol’s ‘rigorous implementation’. We now need to have words turned into action so stability can be restored to Northern Ireland.”

DUP MPs are worried that rebel Tory MPs who voted against Mr Johnson might oppose the proposed protocol legislation to further weaken the prime minister’s position.

There is also some concern within the DUP high command over the fate of the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis and his deputy at the NIO Conor Burns if Mr Johnson was ousted from power.

DUP sources said both ministers have been staunch allies of the prime minister in the no confidence vote when 148 Conservative MPs voted against Mr Johnson which is just over 40% of the Tory numbers in the House of Commons. They are concerned that if Mr Johnson is eventually toppled that it would lead to the departure of two politicians who are regarded as pro-Union from the Northern Ireland Office.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warned yesterday that Mr Johnson might use Northern Ireland and the protocol as a means of staying in power.

Mr Coveney said that while it was generally “unwise” for Irish politicians to comment on UK party politics there is a real concern that Tory divisions could impact negatively on EU-UK negotiations.

Speaking on RTE, Mr Coveney added that the proposed legislation from Liz Truss would breach international law.

Meanwhile, the SDLP confirmed yesterday that it is going to support yet another petition to recall the Assembly following last month’s failed bill to nominate a speaker.

South Belfast MLA Matthew O’Toole urged the DUP to back its candidate for speaker Patsy McGlone “so emergency legislation could be introduced to tackle the cost-o- living crisis”.

Mr O’Toole said: “The SDLP are supporting the latest recall petition because of the impact this crisis is having, people working long hours, like staff at Caterpillar, are being hit by this emergency.

“We want to give the DUP the opportunity to do the right thing, to support the nomination of Patsy McGlone as speaker and return to the Executive.

“At the very least they must elect a speaker so that we can introduce emergency legislation and unlock the £300 million plus to implement an energy costs scheme and get money into people’s pockets. People can’t keep up with these spiralling costs.”