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The Northern Assembly has passed a motion rejecting the UK government’s Internal Market Act and any claims that are necessary to protect the Belfast Accord.
The SDLP motion also described a trade agreement between the UK and the EU as “fundamental to protecting the interests of all who live in Northern Ireland”.
It was approved by the SDLP, Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party, but opposed by the DUP and the Ulster Unionists.
The internal market bill, which is making its way through the UK House of Commons, threatens to nullify parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement designed to avoid a hard border in the island of Ireland. The UK government has stated that the bill is necessary to protect peace in the north.
In proposing the motion Tuesday, SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole asked members of the assembly to “make it clear that this bill does not have our consent.”
“Let it be clear that this Assembly rejects the Internal Market Bill, defends the principles that have underpinned our institutions and affirms that the commitments made in peace agreements and international treaties should not be the plaything of demagogues,” he said.
‘Defective’
However, DUP MLA Paul Givan said his party opposed the motion “because it is flawed in its content.” He said that while a trade deal between the UK and the EU was critical, there was a “big question mark” on whether it could be sealed before January 1.
“So what else can the UK government do but prepare in the event that the European Union continues to be intransigent, continues to threaten and intimidate, but to prepare for an eventuality that does not harm its people? , Or does it at least mitigate that damage? “, said.
Businesses and consumers, he said, needed certainty, and Northern Ireland’s withdrawal agreement and protocol “gives the European Union the upper hand to use us as a pawn in a much bigger toy.”
The Republic of Ireland, he said, was “the predatory neighbor when it comes to commercial activities”, against which the bill was a necessary protection.
Otherwise, he said, when it comes to corporate tax and ports and airports, “nothing would prevent the Republic of Ireland from using the European institutions to thwart those economic opportunities.”
‘Brit-bashing’
UUP leader Steve Aiken said that too often in the Brexit debate “it seems that the attacks on Boris turn into attacks on the British, and that is not something that I think is conducive or useful to the people. of Northern Ireland “.
He proposed that the MLA write in assembly to the UK government and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier “and tell them that we have real and significant concerns about the use of Northern Ireland as political football.”
Sinn Féin MLA Martina Anderson said the bill was a “clear attack on our power-sharing arrangements” and a “clear attempt” to prioritize the British domestic market over the future priorities of decentralized administration.
While the “shameful attack by the British government has been rightly condemned around the world,” he said, “we have another option.”
Sinn Féin, he said, “invites all parties committed to the return of the North to the EU to discuss the scope for the development of an agreed position.”
Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson said it was “a matter of deep concern that legislation is being passed in our national parliament that undermines an international agreement signed less than a year ago and adds further unrest on businesses and individuals in Northern Ireland.”
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