1 week Ago By David Thompson
He also said that what has already been agreed should not be renegotiated – and delays on commitments to smooth processes for sending parcels across the Irish Sea can only be to allow for a smoother transition to the new arrangements. The section of his speech reiterating the party’s opposition to EU law in Northern Ireland received the loudest round of applause – with many critics of the deal struck in January broadly content with its new position. The DUP is committed to the removal of EU law from Northern Ireland and the Irish Sea border that it creates.
Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. Last week, the long-running and chaotic attempts to implement an Irish Sea trade border faced further delays, and Northern Ireland’s highest court confirmed that EU rights under the Windsor Framework trump domestic UK law when the two clash. Meanwhile the NI Equality Commission has made clear that EU rights enshrined in the Protocol must be considered at the earliest possible stage in all UK and local laws and policies.
Responding to these developments, Gavin Robinson told the News Letter on Saturday that the party had not taken its eye off the issues. “What is there already, agreed and published should not be renegotiated. So whilst I recognise delay on parcels and customs, for example, in the last 48 hours we can say: if that is in the interests of industry to allow for a smoother transition to the new arrangements, fine.
Advertisement Advertisement “But as an indication of something to change or a commitment not being honoured, then we would have a problem. “Going forward there is a number of opportunities. There will be a review triggered because of a vote taken at the Northern Ireland Assembly.
I criticised the mechanism of the vote – in fact I think it is an inversion of all the protections that should be at the heart of our system. “But it is a vote that we will use – and a review that we will use – productively, for businesses in Northern Ireland. “On the overarching relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom – I said very clearly that we will engage productively in those discussions.
But we will look at those discussions and what the government is negotiating with the European Union through the prism of the United Kingdom – and how does it best help and assist to remove the barriers that were imposed upon us by Westminster. Advertisement Advertisement “So it’s not to say that I, we, one party or all of unionism in Northern Ireland has the ability to upturn or overturn the position..
. we have been placed in. But it’s to give the sense, and to give the clear indication today that we don’t forget about those issues.
“They are important to us. Constitutionally they are important to us. We’ve got a balance between what we do in relation to devolution – we took the right decision to see devolution restored.
That doesn’t mean that we’ve forgotten or taken our eye off repairing the harm and damage created by a Conservative government which was more interested in delivering for England than delivering for the United Kingdom”. National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting.
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