Peter Weir MLA: Astonishing comments by Julian Smith show that there is a threat to default UK citizenship

It shows that not only he cannot distinguish between identity and citizenship, but also that he does not understand what is intended nor what is written in the Belfast Agreement.

When he talks about prioritising the commitments given in it in this area, does he not stop to think that the reason why a change has not been implemented after 21 years was that that commitment was never there in the first place.

Most worryingly he has bought in to the mission creep of nationalists, sadly aided and abetted by others who seek to ride a coach and horses through the consent principle by exploiting fictional commitments.

It seeks to solve a non-existent problem as there is a clear pre-existing route to Irish citizenship, by diminishing our own Britishness and leaving us effective nomad status. While the NIO will not make the final decision, it will clearly be advocates for this diminution.

Unlike the Dublin government which is the champion of Irish nationalism, even the last vestiges of unionist sentiment in the NIO seem to have vanished. Not content with trying to treat us as second class citizens on trade and customs, it seems the next threat is to default British citizenship itself.

Peter Weir MLA, DUP Strangford