Sir Jeffrey Donaldson: EU must put Northern Ireland’s interests as priority

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has urged the EU to put Northern Ireland’s interests first “rather than acting out of selfish interest”.

The Democratic Unionist Party leader was speaking after No 10 said “limited” progress had been made in talks between Brexit minister Lord Frost and European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Friday.

Mr Sefcovic said he had been disappointed in the UK’s unwillingness to compromise.

Lord Frost said Article 16, which would allow parts of the deal to be suspended, was “very much on the table”, while Mr Sefcovic said invoking the protocol would have “serious consequences”.

Sir Jeffrey slammed that comments by Mr Sefcovic as “intemperate”.

The DUP leader also described Mr Sefcovic’s remarks as “ill-judged and very ill-advised”.

Sir Jeffrey said: “They (the EU) ought to recognise that the protocol and its Irish Sea border is causing economic harm and undermining stability in Northern Ireland.

“These negotiations cannot become a process to excuse away the real problems of the protocol nor is it acceptable for those with EU interests to now claim that a legal mechanism within the protocol – namely Article 16 cannot and should never be used.

“Indeed, I would remind those who claim that it is against the spirit of the Belfast Agreement to invoke Article 16, in circumstances where it is done to commence a process of re-establishing NI’s place in the UK internal market, that a border down the Irish Sea is the real and damaging breach of the 98 Agreement.

“The government set out a reasonable position in its command paper and our view remains unchanged that unless the Irish Sea border goes then it will not be business as usual in NI.”

“Sir Jeffrey added: “It is time the interests of NI were put first by the EU rather than behaving in a manner which has brought us to the brink.”

Meanwhile, NI Secretary Brandon Lewis has said that a move by the government to suspend elements of the protocol is “not inevitable”.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Lewis also expressed surprise at reports from Brussels that the EU was considering the retaliatory steps if would take in the event of a unilateral move by the UK, including the potential suspension of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement.

“It’s not inevitable at all,” he told the PA news agency when asked the government’s position on triggering Article 16. Our legal position is that the conditions have already been met for us to trigger Article 16. It’s self-evident that we don’t want to do that... we want... an agreement with the EU”.

Read: Morning View, The Irish Sea border was agreed with EU under duress and now must be overhauled

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