Eastwood: Protocol Bill will involve checks - will it keep 'people on the streets' happy?

The Foyle MP was speaking as the Bill continued to progress through committee stage at Westminster on Tuesday.

He said he believed the DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson was right when he said 'it is not just the practicalities of trade that are damaging confidence within the Unionist population'.

But Mr. Eastwood asked Mr. Donaldson if he believed the Bill will be 'enough to keep those people who are out on the streets happy?'

"There will still be checks, and that constitutional issue that he has will not go away as a result of this Bill," said the SDLP leader.

In his response the Lagan Valley MP said he was not opposed to all checks on goods between Britain and Ireland.

"I accept that there will not be a solution that everyone in Northern Ireland will agree with. I do not believe that accommodating checks on goods moving from the UK to the EU represents a constitutional change to our status as part of the United Kingdom, but I do believe that carrying out customs checks on goods travelling from GB to Northern Ireland and staying within the United Kingdom does have a constitutional impact on our position within the United Kingdom. I make a distinction in that respect," he stated.

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