[ad_1]
Sammy Wilson’s statement came days after her leader said she accepted that the deal was now “law.”
The DUP’s Brexit spokesman, Sammy Wilson, called for the EU Withdrawal Agreement to be removed, saying the party “will not accept” the agreement.
He said the agreement, which includes the Northern Ireland Protocol, had placed a border in the Irish Sea.
He issued the statement days after his party leader and Prime Minister Arlene Foster said the protocol was now “law.”
He said that although some would continue to fight it, he had to recognize that the protocol “is the reality now.”
The Brexit deal negotiated by Boris Johnson last October means that the entire UK will leave the EU customs union when the Brexit transition period expires at the end of 2020.
However, under the Northern Ireland Protocol, Northern Ireland will continue to apply the EU customs code in its ports and effectively remain in the single market for goods.
This part of the agreement was negotiated after more than three years of deliberation on how to avoid merchandise controls along the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The nature of merchandise controls at NI ports has not yet been agreed
However, the DUP vehemently opposed the protocol and any new control of merchandise in ports, arguing that it would place an economic border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
‘The betrayal of Boris Johnston’
In his statement Sunday, Wilson repeated his criticism of the deal, saying it “should be scrapped or at least significantly changed.”
“The Withdrawal Agreement and the border it places in the Irish Sea, which separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom, was created by those who clamored, campaigned and cajoled British negotiators to ensure that there were no controls between Northern Ireland. North and the Republic of Ireland “, said the deputy of the DUP.
“Political parties, business groups, economic commentators and highly representative bodies now complaining about the impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol, have to take responsibility for its existence first.
“They opened the door to allow Boris Johnston to justify his betrayal of this part of the UK.”
The East Antrim MP, who was the DUP’s Brexit spokesperson during the negotiations, said the party had helped stop former Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal on three occasions and continues to argue against the “anti-union Brexit” of Boris Johnston.
He said they are still trying to persuade Conservative MPs that the protocol “is not only bad for Northern Ireland, but links the UK as a whole to the influence of the EU institutions.”
However, this comes just days after DUP leader Arlene Foster told Sky News that while she was opposed to protocol, she accepted that she had won the support of the majority of the UK parliament.
Arlene Foster said Boris Johnson had won support for the EU withdrawal bill in the Commons
“Boris Johnson is prime minister, he took him to the House of Commons, he got the support he needed, and therefore it became law,” he said.
“I mean, there are some who would continue to fight against the protocol, I have to admit that this is the reality now.”
Ms. Foster added that she would now use her role as a union leader to “make sure she mitigates the damage to the union.”
Sammy Wilson’s hostility to Boris Johnson’s EU Withdrawal Agreement and the prospect of an economic border between Britain and Northern Ireland is not new.
However, the vehemence with which he has reiterated his point of view invites comparison with the seemingly more relaxed approach taken by his party leader in a recent interview with Sky News.
Prime Minister Arlene Foster seemed interested in making the most of what the DUP considers bad work.
She told Sky News that she has to recognize that the Northern Ireland protocol is now a reality and use initiatives like the UK’s proposed Shared Prosperity Fund to mitigate its impact.
TUV frontman Jim Allister argues that it is not difficult to discern a difference between Sammy Wilson’s attitude and what he calls Arlene Foster’s “turnaround approach.”
Mr Wilson argues that if the current trade talks between the UK and the EU end without an agreement, the Northern Ireland protocol should be called into question.
But this runs counter to previous assurances from UK ministers like Michael Gove, who says the protocol will be observed even if there is no trade deal.
Mr. Wilson argued that the Withdrawal Agreement was “impossible” to implement due to the uncertainty about future controls of merchandise in the ports of Northern Ireland.
He said politicians “do not even know the level and depth of the controls that will be required,” since that issue has not yet been agreed.
Other union leaders have criticized Ms. Foster’s approach to the protocol.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken said the Brexit deal “is potentially economically and constitutionally disastrous for Northern Ireland.”
“We will not be able to trade within our own country without going through the legislative hoops dictated by the EU and meekly accepted by the conservative government.”
Aiken called it a debacle that could be traced “directly to the DUP granting the beginning of a regulatory border in the Irish Sea on 2 October 2019.”
Traditional Union Voice (TUV) party leader Jim Allister said the Withdrawal Agreement tears “the very fabric of the union.”
“However, unfortunately the DUP leadership has accepted it,” he added.
He said DUP Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots was “putting the same infrastructure in place in our ports that creates the disastrous Irish Sea border.”
[ad_2]