‘You literally could not make this up’: Unionist rage over Article 16

And in a rare display of politicial parties aligning, the SDLP and Alliance Party have likewise issued strongly-worded statements attacking the decision to invoke Article 16.

At time of writing, nothing had been received by the News Letter newsdesk from Sinn Fein.

As the News Letter has previously reported, unionists had placed a lot of hope in Article 16 as a way of basically deleting the Irish Sea border.

It is a clause written into the Protocol (the deal between the UK and EU concerning how NI would be treated).

It basically means that, if there are major social problems caused by the way the Protocol operated (that is to say, by the fact that there is now a defacto NI-GB sea border), then the UK or EU can unilaterally take “rebalancing” and “safeguard” measures – though it does not say exactly what they are.

Unionists have been angered by the disruption of NI-GB trade since January 1, and have demanded that the government invoke Article 16 and undertake “rebalancing” measures of its own.

However, it has refused to do this.

Now the EU has done so because it is “justified as a safeguard measure pursuant to Article 16 of that Protocol in order toavert serious societal difficulties due to a lack of supply threatening to disturb the orderly implementation of the vaccination campaigns in the Member States”.

Arch-Brexiteer Sammy Wilson of the DUP called the move “an incredibly callous decision”.

“The great con trick - that a hard border in Ireland would be unworkable - has finally been exposed,” he said.

“At the first sight of Brexit Britain’s success, the EU have abandoned the facade that a border in Ireland would cause civil unrest and be impossible to police.

“The Government must now live up to the promises it has made to the people of Northern Ireland, including Article 16, and act to protect our economy and the UK internal market.”

And Richard Bullick, former advisor to Arlene Foster, said: “You literally couldn’t make this up.

“This is too good a story to be buried on a Friday afternoon. I suspect this may reshape the debate about the workability of Article 16, at least in a targeted way.

“Can I be the first to suggest (wrongly of course) that this constitutes a border on the island of Ireland and is not only a breach of the Good Friday Agreement but is a real threat to the ‘peace process’.”

UUP leader Steve Aiken OBE said: “Brandon Lewis – absolutely no excuse now for not invoking Article 16. How is the EU position (driven by failure to order vaccines in time) more pressing than our disastrous Irish Sea border?”

@NIOgovAnd First Minister Arlene Foster herself also tonight issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the actions of the EU in invoking Article 16 of the NI Protocol, calling it an “act of incredible hostility”.

READ the News Letter’s coverage of this week’s previous big story – the latest IRA man’s funeral taking place amid the Covid crisis:

Click here: McCourt funeral just latest of six republican send-offs during Covid crisis

Click here: Pressure mounts on SF as Foster demands party say who was at IRA man’s funeral

Click here: Late IRA man Eamonn McCourt ‘killed one of his own comrades by mistake’

Click here: SF issues press release about farm conditions in India amid clamour for Londonderry funeral answers

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