Gregory Campbell asks Boris Johnson when free trade will be restored across the Irish Sea

The East Derry MP raised ongoing issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol during a debate in the House of Commons.

Addressing Mr. Johnson remotely, he said his party had been warning about the impact of the protocol for months.

"These problems are certain to get worse from April. Can you outline the timeline where people in Northern Ireland and indeed all across the UK as indicated in the e-parliament petition last week - when all of us can enjoy free trade, across the nation, including from Great Britain to Northern Ireland as every other independent trading nation enjoys?" he asked.

Mr. Johnson said he was committed to untrammelled trade between Britain and the north and would trigger Article 16 of the protocol if necessary.

"I have made it absolutely clear to our EU friends and partners that we want to make our relationship work but it is also absolutely essential that there should be untrammelled free trade, exchange of goods, services and capital through all parts of the UK and we will do everything we can to ensure that that is the case, including, as I have said in the chamber before and to his honourable colleagues, including invoking Article 16 of the Protocol if that is necessary," he promised.