Brexit: DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson slams Northern Ireland protocol

A new plan to end the Brexit stand-off over Northern Ireland that could clear the way for the DUP to return to power-sharing with Sinn Fein will be launched this week.

The detailed proposals to resolve the deadlock that are backed by senior DUP figures and Brexiteer Conservatives will be unveiled on Tuesday.

The DUP has refused to share power with Sinn Fein in the Stormont Assembly – where the republican party now has the most members – unless its concerns about post-Brexit trading arrangements are addressed.

It has warned that measures intended to avoid the need for custom checks with the Republic of Ireland have diminished Northern Ireland’s position as a full member of the United Kingdom.

The Northern Ireland Protocol has been blamed for frustrating trade with Great Britain and endangering the Good Friday Agreement which was instrumental in bringing an end to the Troubles.

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The new report from the Centre for Brexit Policy makes the case for a system of “mutual enforcement”. This would place a legal obligation on the EU and the UK to “enforce the rules of the other with respect to trade across the border”.

The authors say this model would remove the need for checks on goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, avoid a hard border between the north and south of the island and protect the EU’s single market. They also claim it would remove any need for the European Court of Justice “to have any powers over the trading arrangements in Northern Ireland”.

The proposed changes, they argue, would unlock “the return of the DUP to Stormont”. They warn that unless all parties agree to the proposals “Stormont cannot reopen”.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson writes in the foreword to the report: “The DUP wants to see Stormont back up and running again as soon as possible and on a sound and stable foundation. The stakes are extremely high and this necessitates a willingness on all sides to engage constructively with proposals that could help end the logjam and protect our place in the Internal Market of the United Kingdom.”

The Centre for Brexit Policy says Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework – his attempt earlier this year to address problems with the Northern Ireland protocol – has “failed”, claiming that EU law “remains supreme” in the province.

Former Brexit minister David Jones, the deputy chairman of the European Research Group, writes in his foreword: “Mutual Enforcement is an elegant end effective arrangement that respects the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and restores the full place of Northern Ireland in our Union. Equally, it protects the integrity of both the EU Single Market and the UK internal market.”

The DUP’s push for major compromises follows Sinn Fein’s emergence as the largest party both in Stormont and local government. There is strong expectation that it will also be part of the next government in the Republic of Ireland.

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“We are working with Northern Ireland businesses, communities and political parties on implementing the Framework. It is in the best interests of Northern Ireland to restore a fully functioning Executive and Assembly as soon as possible.”

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