DUP: Voters Urged To Send Clear Signal On Irish Sea Border

DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP has challenged the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State regarding the continued political and economic harm being caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Sir Jeffrey said the people of Northern Ireland have the opportunity next Thursday to remove the long shadow of the Irish Sea Border, by voting DUP.

Speaking after PMQs the DUP Leader said: "People should use their vote to send a message the that the Irish Sea border must go.

"The Government knows that the Protocol does not enjoy the support of Unionists and Brussels can be in no doubt that the Protocol has cast its long shadow over Northern Ireland’s political arrangements. Now is the moment to send a clear signal that the Irish Sea border must go and the Protocol must be replaced by arrangements that restore Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom internal market.

"The Protocol represents an existential threat to the future of Northern Ireland’s place within the Union.

"The checks on the Irish Sea border are the symptom of the underlying problem, namely, that Northern Ireland is subject to a different set of laws imposed upon us by a foreign entity without any say or vote by any elected representative of the people of Northern Ireland.

"Why should anyone seeking election to the Assembly want to deny themselves the right to have a say or a vote on vast swathes of the laws governing our economy and which affect the people of Northern Ireland so directly? The DUP is seeking the restoration of democratic decision making to the NI Assembly replacing the democratic deficit created by the Protocol. That places the power in the hands of all the parties in the Assembly.

"Why will Pro-Protocol parties not join us in order to give their voters a say in the laws that will govern them?"