DUP welcomes Truss’ promise to suspend parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has welcomed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’s commitment to suspend parts of the post-Brexit agreement if no agreement can be reached with the European Union.

Talks between the UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol continue, despite staunch opposition from the Unionists.

In their view, the numerous controls in Northern Ireland’s ports, aimed at avoiding a hard border with the Republic of Ireland while the region is still de facto part of the EU internal market, actually constitute a border in the Irish Sea.

Ms Truss said she would make “constructive suggestions” to her EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic at talks on Thursday.

However, she said she was “ready” to invoke Article 16, which would suspend parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol if no agreement could be reached.

Sir Jeffrey had previously renewed his threat to withdraw his ministers from the Stormont Executive if no progress was made on the protocol.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, however, condemned the threats to invoke Article 16 as “as trite as the threats by the DUP and Sinn Féin to bring down Stormont”.

Watch: EU unimpressed by Liz Truss’ threats to Northern Ireland after Brexit

“It doesn’t solve anything, it doesn’t help anyone, it will only make things worse,” he said.

Sir Jeffrey is due to meet Ms Truss this week and welcomed her recent statement.

“She is right that Unionists will not agree to the Protocol and we need the Government to honour its commitment to protect the Union and preserve Northern Ireland’s place in the UK single market,” he tweeted.

Doug Beattie, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, also welcomed Ms Truss’s recent comments as a “way forward in dealing with trade issues with the EU”.

“It is entirely reasonable that goods from Great Britain destined for Northern Ireland should not be subject to checks and goods destined for the EU market should be able to be checked at our ports. We have already proposed legislation to make this feasible as early as 2019,” he said.

“This would make a major contribution to easing the difficult situation and should form the basis for constructive talks with Maros Sefcovic in the coming week.

“In numerous discussions with companies and company representatives, this is seen as a pragmatic and sensible solution. Common sense is required to de-escalate this problem.”

However, he was critical of Sir Jeffreys’ threats to withdraw his ministers from the executive.

“Further engagement and negotiations are the way forward. We don’t need threats to bring down the Stormont institutions in the middle of a pandemic, we need sensible, clear thinking instead,” he said.

“Constructive engagement will always work better than megaphone diplomacy.”

TÜV boss Jim Allister reacted more cautiously and said that strong words must be followed by actions.

“If Liz Truss means what she said in the Sunday Telegraph – namely, ‘I will not sign anything … which continues to result in controls on the movement of goods within our country’ – then she must take us out of the EU single market for goods, the customs code and the VAT system and end our subjection to EU laws and courts,” he said.

“This is necessary to end all controls on trade within the UK.

“My biggest problem with the Foreign Secretary’s words is that they contradict the arguments her Government have been making for months in response to the judicial review challenge in which I and others are involved.

“The British Government, through its senior legal adviser, has defended the very agreements it now verbally rejects, while speaking blithely and approvingly of the Protocol which subordinates the Acts of Union.

“So if the British Government now accepts the folly of the Protocol in all its parts, then go ahead with its destruction.

“Strong words are all well and good, but they must be followed by actions. Empty rhetoric and empty threats from some Unionists only give the protocol to dissolve the Union more time to gain further traction.”

Watch: Northern Ireland Protocol: There remain ‘significant gaps’ between the EU and the UK