‘Tinkering with the NI Protocol will not work’: TUV leader Jim Alllister

Further “tinkering” with the Northern Ireland Protocol should not be passed off as significant change, Jim Allister has said.
By Mark Rainey
Published 24th Oct 2021, 09:35 BST
Trucks arriving at Larne port. Photo: Stephen DavisonTrucks arriving at Larne port. Photo: Stephen Davison
Trucks arriving at Larne port. Photo: Stephen Davison

The TUV leader made his comments as the BBC reported EU sources as saying the first round of fresh talks with the UK have been “constructive”.

“Tinkering with the Belfast Agreement at St Andrew’s neither fixed it nor changed its basic architecture,” Mr Allister said.

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“Likewise, mere tinkering with the Protocol will not work. If the basic architecture of foreign rule and sovereignty remains, then, nothing of significance would have changed.”

“Many unionists were conned by exaggerated claims of change at St Andrew’s. The same must not happen again. Nor must a unionist party again try to package tinkering as real change.”

Mr Allister described the post-Brexit trading arrangements as being “so destructive of the Union that it must go, in all its parts”.

He added: “I repeat, again, the test of any fresh proposals is the sovereignty test – would we still be left in a foreign single market for goods, under a foreign customs code and vat regime, enforced by foreign laws and governed by a foreign Supreme Court.

“If so, then, nothing of substance would have changed.”

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Related topics:Jim AllisterProtocolNI ProtocolNorthern IrelandBBC