Politicians linking the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to invasion of Ukraine are being 'stupid, insulting and nonsensical' says Wilson

During the week, a number of peers who voiced objections to the bill did so by saying it will undermine Europe-wide solidarity in the face of Moscow's aggression.

The bill is designed to give UK ministers the power to basically over-ride the Northern Ireland Protocol, and unionists hope that this will lead to the dismantling (or at least the undermining) of the Irish Sea border.

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One member of the House of Lords, Lord Ricketts (who has no party affiliation), said during a debate on the bill late on Tuesday night: "The only world leader I can think of who might raise a cheer if this bill became law is Vladimir Putin, because it would sow division and discord among key members of the alliance supporting Ukraine."

Other contributions included:

Baroness Suttie (LibDem), who called the bill "potentially deeply damaging to our relationships with both Washington and Brussels; that matters at a time when it is so vital for us to stand together against Vladimir Putin’s increasingly appalling actions in Ukraine".

Baroness Chapman (Labour): "[This bill] divides us from our European allies when we should be walking in lockstep in the face of Putin’s war in Ukraine."

Lord Birt (no party) said "Putin’s anarchic bellicosity has driven home just how important it is for Europe to stick together, not least because history tells us that we will not always have a President in the White House as ready to defend Europe as Joe Biden".

Lord Tughendhat (Tory): "In the face of the escalating Ukraine war and the economic and energy disruption that it is causing, it would be the height of irresponsibility for the British Government to allow the Northern Ireland protocol to drive a wedge between us and the EU, and between us and our friends in Washington."

And Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Tory): "Never in recent history have there been more pressing reasons for co-operation between European nations, because of the hostilities in Ukraine and the global threats to energy and food security." She urged the government to "pause" the Protocol Bill and instead to "prioritise negotiations" between the EU and UK, instead of taking unilateral UK action.

There were some contributions from peers who objected to the comparison, such as Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Tory) who called it "so over-the-top and inappropriate".

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Speaking to the News Letter on Thursday, DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson MP said of the efforts to link the Protocol to the Ukraine invasion: "It's the argument of someone who knows they have lost the argument.

"They know the Protocol Bill makes sense, that it's essential to get democracy restored in Northern Ireland.

"They know the Protocol itself is wrong. They can't answer any of those issues, so they fall back on this stupid argument - and it is a stupid argument.

"First of all, I doubt very much if Vladimir Putin has even heard of the Northern Ireland Protocol, let alone the controversy around it.

"To try and even compare [the two], it's a bit of an insult almost to those European countries who are supplying arms and taking sanctions against Russia - and suffering the consequences - to say: 'by the way, we will throw it all up because the British government is putting through the Northern Ireland Protocol bill'.

"I think you'll find increasingly those who are desperate to find reasons for not supporting the Protocol Bill will stretch out to arguments which, quite honestly, are nonsensical and in my view are insulting."

The explanatory notes the government provides for the Protocol bill say it aims to "provide delegated powers to ministers to make new law in connection with the Northern Ireland Protocol [and to] provide delegated powers for ministers to provide that other provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol should cease to have effect in the UK".

The war in Ukraine began on February 24. Reliable casulaty figures are almost impossible to establish, but the UN's best estimate is that some 6,200-plus civilians have died.

The Russian and Ukrainian governments each claim that their own side has killed in excess of 60,000 enemy fighters, but the true numbers may be wildly different.

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