BREXIT has not been completed and the EU is punishing the UK by dragging its heels over the Northern Ireland customs protocol, according to former First Minister Arlene Foster.
She told GB News today (FRIDAY): “When people talk about Brexit being done, it’s not quite done for Northern Ireland, as we’re still within the single market for goods.
“People tried to explain that that was the best of both worlds, that we were in the United Kingdom but we were also in the [EU] single market for goods.
“But of course, what happens is there’s a border effectively now between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, there are checks that happen on goods that move within the internal market of the United Kingdom, which of course for Unionists is completely unacceptable, because what you’re doing is splitting up the sovereignty of the UK.”
Asked if the UK was being punished, in an interview with Andrew Pierce on GB News, she said: “Well, that has always been the belief, that the Northern Ireland protocol is basically “our medicine” for having the temerity to leave the European Union.
“The disproportionality of the amount of checks that happened between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is incredible.
“When you look at the risk, the whole idea behind the Northern Ireland protocol is to secure the single market of the European Union, in other words, not allow goods into the single market that are shoddy or below standard,
“There is no risk to the single European market from goods moving from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, because of course, Northern Ireland is a sterling zone like the rest of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland is a euro zone.
“So immediately, you would see goods that are marked up in Sterling, if they were in the European Union, you would notice that one would have thought and of course, there were ways to deal with us, there were technology solutions, there were alternative arrangements, trusted traders, small business exemptions, but they were all pushed out of the way by the European Union.
“And this is a political decision. And that’s why it has to be a political negotiation.”
She added: “Because of the way in which the Government has been vacillating over the summer, and indeed, up until now, there hasn’t been a focus on dealing with the Northern Ireland protocol, we had hoped, once Rishi Sunak had come in, that there would be more of a focus.
“If we are citizens of the United Kingdom, then we should be able to access the same goods as the rest of the people in the UK. At the moment, our goods are more expensive and with less choice, and that’s all down to the Northern Ireland protocol.”
