Eurosceptic MP appointed Minister of State at NIO

Eurosceptic MP Steve Baker replaces Belfast-born Conor Burns in the post as a result of Liz Truss’ first round of Cabinet appointments.

The former chairman of the pro-Brexit ERG called in March for the Government to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a device that suspends the operation of the deal such as Irish Sea border checks on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Mr Baker has been open in his criticism of the NI Protocol describing it in one tweet as “always unfinished business.”

“We surely now all agree the NIP does not deliver what it promised,” he also tweeted.

In a thread on Twitter after a meeting with East Belfast Conservatives earlier this year, Mr Baker wrote: “It (the Protocol) has divided the two communities, destroyed political confidence, ended power sharing and caused trade diversion.

“These are all good reasons for change but reasons which were for foreseen.”

He has also tweeted that he is confident that the EU is not going to start a trade war with the UK if the British Government unilaterally changed those elements of the Protocol that unionists claim are undermining the economic and constitutional link between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Ian Paisley last night welcomed Mr Baker’s appointment to the post of Minister of State at the NIO.

The DUP MP said: “As a senior member of the ERG I have worked with Steve for years. He will stand up to those who think UK sovereignty should be diluted and he will across the details.”

Mr Paisley added: “He is also a biker! And I will be lobbying him hard for that sector as a minister who will understand the potential this sector makes to Northern Ireland.

The new Truss led government is likely to come under pressure not only from Brussels and Dublin not to enact the NI Protocol Bill, which would enable it to radically overhaul the post-Brexit trade deal.

In his first phone call from the White House to the new Prime Minister, President Joe Biden discussed the “shared commitment to protecting the gains of the Belfast Agreement and the importance of a negotiated agreement with the European Union on the Northern Ireland Protocol.”