Sir Jeffrey Donaldson: Protocol impacts other issues

The DUP leader was responding to the suggestion that most people going to polls in May were more focused on waiting lists and access to hospital services than they were about trading red tape created by the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol.

Launching his party’s policy document on reforming Northern Ireland’s struggling health system, which has the longest waiting lists in the UK, Sir Jeffrey said the protocol was adding to the woes of the local NHS.

As an example, he highlighted the potential for Northern Ireland to be excluded from UK-wide Covid-19 testing arrangements as a result of the regulatory structures established under post-Brexit trading arrangements that have effectively seen the Province remain within the EU single market.

Launching his party’s Fix the NHS plan at Bangor Health Centre, alongside DUP North Down candidates Stephen Dunne and Jennifer Gilmour, Sir Jeffrey said: “The protocol impacts on health care issues, it impacts on the cost-of-living issues, it is driving up the cost of food in Northern Ireland … because the cost of bringing those products from Great Britain has gone up by 27% in the first year of the protocol.

“I’ve been out in every constituency in Northern Ireland in recent weeks, I’ve been knocking doors with our candidates, and the protocol comes up regularly. People are very concerned about what it means for the future of Northern Ireland, for our political and economic stability.”

The DUP collapsed the Stormont Executive in February when it withdrew First Minister Paul Givan in protest at the protocol.

Sir Jeffrey has warned that his party will not return to a power-sharing administration post-election until the protocol is replaced, either by way of an agreed settlement with the EU or by the UK government acting unilaterally to suspend it.

“I want to see Stormont up and running as soon as possible after the election, that’s why I continue to press the prime minister either to reach agreement with the EU, or to take unilateral action to remove the Irish Sea border.”