Sir Jeffrey Donaldson takes on DUP MPs over red lane - as Sammy Wilson says he doesn't support the deal

Sammy Wilson told MPs “it is well known that I don’t support the deal. I have given reasons why not”. He said that legislation giving the EU having the final say is still in place.

Earlier, the East Antrim MP said much of the red lane goods going to NI might never be in the EU at all – including manufacturing.

NIO minister Mr Baker didn’t accept that and defended the principle of the red lane to protect the EU’s market. He said the UK government “would have implemented the red lane even acting unilaterally out of respect for the legitimate interests of our friends and trading partners”.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson intervened to ask the minister to welcome the four million goods movements moved out of the red lane as part of changes to the text of the Framework announced earlier in the week.

Mr Baker said NI is not in the EU single market and has the “absolute minimum of EU law” compatible with access to the EU market. He said there had been eight years of drama but had put in place a red lane to protect the EU’s interests.

The DUP’s Paul Girvan said that for companies where 98% of their goods were for the UK – they would still have to use the red lane. Mr Baker said he would visit a firm mentioned by Mr Girvan to see what solutions there should be.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said there was no need for a green lane. “There is only a need for one lane. And that is the lane that deals with goods flowing through our Northern Ireland ports and onwards to the European Union or deemed at risk of entering the European Union”.

Looking towards his colleague Sammy Wilson, Sir Jeffrey said “The red lane was endorsed by my party. The red lane was supported by my party. And every one of my MPs voted for that proposal. And that was my mandate. And it is what I secured. And that removes the Irish Sea border within our internal market of the United Kingdom. And it means that the only checks that we need to carry out are those on goods moving into or at risk of going into the European Union. That is what we stated when we set out our response to the Windsor Framework – endorsed unanimously by all of our party officers. All of them endorsed our response to that Framework”.

He said he had gone further than the party’s framework response in removing the green lane from the new arrangements.

Sir Jeffrey praised North Antrim MP Ian Paisley for his work on the agri-food sector and veterinary medicines, saying that it is unfinished business.

Addressing his party leader, Sammy Wilson said part of the proposals showed the government reserved the right to introduce laws which will interfere with trade in Northern Ireland.

Sir Jeffrey urged Mr Wilson to “read all of the proposals. And if he does he will see that there is a new statutory duty to be introduced in law that will ensure that the government of the United Kingdom – in circumstances where there is the risk of divergence – the minister in charge, whether it’s a new policy or a new law will come to this house and make a statement. Not only informing the house of any potential impact on Northern Ireland’s place within the UK internal market – but set out the measures that the government must take to ameliorate that situation. And that is clearly in the command paper. That is a clear commitment from the government and that is one we intend to hold the government to account on”.

Sir Jeffrey said that the legislation on Section 7A meant that the pipeline of EU law in Northern Ireland had been cut.