Media commentators give evidence to House of Lords committee on Irish Sea border

Ben Lowry and Tom Kelly of the Irish News gave evidence at the last inquiry session of inquiry held by the Lords sub committee on the protocol into the NI Protocol Bill.

Mr Lowry, who appeared remotely by video, talked about the "slow-burning" effect of the trade barrier, agreed by Boris Johnson in 2019, and the hardening of the UK and unionist position against it.

He welcomed a move away from "this idea that the Belfast Agreement was only something that gave assurances to nationalists, was only something that could be cited by nationalists, could be cited by the Irish government, could be cited by Irish America" towards a focus on the part of the Belfast Agreement that was "absolutely crucial" to unionist support, the principle of consent.

Mr Kelly, who gave evidence in person, said: "We get hung up on the word consent but ... the kingpin [of the 1998 deal] was consensus."

But he added: "... if you talk about consent in Northern Ireland terms what you really mean is veto and that is not helpful on the nationalist side or the unionist side".

The two witnesses were asked about various consequences of the protocol and the government's bill to overhaul it, from their assessment of economic implications to levels of support for violence.Watch the evidence session here