Windsor Framework: NI Protocol deal welcome if dual market access retained with less bureaucracy says Naomi Long

​“We’ve been very clear from the beginning what our expectations would be, we would want to still maintain dual market access, that’s important for businesses in Northern Ireland,” she said.

“We also want to see a reduction in the amount of bureaucracy that the protocol creates, particularly for those who are importing goods from GB into NI. We’re also looking for stability because businesses are telling us very clearly that what they want are stable outcomes. If we have that stability and clarity, and we maintain dual market access but with a reduction in bureaucracy, then I think that that’s a good deal.”

Ms Long added: “All of us would like to see the relationship with the EU in a better place, I think the UK as a whole needs that, but I think it would also be good for north/south and east/west relationships because they’ve been damaged by Brexit.”

Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said the DUP should get back to powersharing at Stormont if they are “genuine unionists”.

MP Stephen Farry said: “From the DUP’s perspective, if they are genuine unionists they need to understand that the preservation of the Union actually flows from a functioning executive and Assembly.”

Mr Farry added that his party has concerns about the deal’s Stormont brake clause which can stop EU law applying in NI.

He said: “For us, the key test of this is going to be the preservation of Northern Ireland’s dual market access to both the wider UK market and also to the European Union market”.