Supreme Court ruling on Northern Ireland Protocol leaves Good Friday Agreement 'broken': Ben Habib

Reacting to the court judgment, dismissing a legal challenge against the protocol, Mr Habib told the BBC: “The two key takeaways are that a significant part of the the Acts of Union have been disapplied, contrary to all the various protestations made by parliamentarians.

“And the cross-community consent, which is a cornerstone of the Good Friday Agreement has also been disapplied, in order to get the protocol through.

“We have complete constitutional clarity and that is itself is a victory for ourselves.

“We have just had the Supreme Court confirm there is an Irish Sea border and it was imposed without cross-community consent and that is what we have been arguing for.

“They may have ruled that it has legally done so but effectively the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is broken, the Good Friday Agreement is broken and that is complete constitutional clarity for us.”

Lord Stephens said in the ruling: “The most fundamental rule of UK constitutional law is that Parliament, or more precisely the Crown in Parliament, is sovereign and that legislation enacted by Parliament is supreme.“A clear answer has been expressly provided by Parliament in relation to any conflict between the Protocol and the rights in the trade limb of article VI (of the Acts of Union 1800).”

DUP leader Sir Jeffery Donaldson said the case had highlighted why unionists are opposed to the trading arrangements.

Sir Jeffrey, who attended the judgment hearing in London, said: “A solution to the protocol was never going to be found in the courts, but the cases have served to highlight some of the reasons why unionists have uniformly rejected the protocol.

“The Government must consider this judgment, their own arguments to the court and take the steps necessary to replace the protocol with arrangements that unionists can support. The protocol represents an existential threat to the future of Northern Ireland’s place within the Union. The longer the protocol remains, the more it will harm the Union itself.

“The checks on the Irish Sea border are the symptom of the underlying problem, namely, that Northern Ireland is subject to a different set of laws imposed upon us by a foreign entity without any say or vote by any elected representative of the people of Northern Ireland.

“Over eighteen months ago we outlined the parameters for the way forward. We set our tests and those continue to be our yardstick for measuring any deal between the EU and UK.

“Political progress in Northern Ireland was hard won and is built on the support of unionists and nationalists. Not one unionist MLA or MP supports the protocol. The idea that one section of our people will dominate the other and ignore the concerns of unionists is the opposite of powersharing and will never produce durable or balanced outcomes.

“There will be no solid basis for an executive and assembly until the protocol is replaced with arrangements that restore NI’s place in the UK internal market and our constitutional arrangements are respected.”