Gregory Campbell responds to Windsor Framework - ‘Unionist representatives need to be content with governance arrangements in NI’

The DUP MP made the comments after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak briefed MPs on the new accord on Monday.

The former Derry councillor said unionists would have to be content with governance arrangements within the North.

“Does the Prime Minister agree with what I told him last week: just as years ago, the representatives of nationalism in NI needed to be content with governance arrangements in NI, equally now, the representatives of Unionism have to be content with governance arrangements going forward?” he asked.

Mr. Campbell firstly questioned the necessity of having arrangements in place to avoid a hard border in Ireland, claiming that such a frontier was a physical ‘impossibility’ due its length and geography.

“When the Prime Minister was at the press conference with Madame [Ursula, European Commission President] von der Leyen this afternoon, he indicated that, ‘We all collectively share an ambition to avoid a hard border between NI and the Republic, and that’s why there’s a role for EU law in NI’.

“This is the umpteenth time that this mistake has been made by successive Prime Ministers. There will not be any possibility of a so-called hard border, not because of mark 1 of the protocol or mark 2 of the protocol, but because of the 300-mile land border that has over 280 crossing points, making a hard border an impossibility,” said the East Derry MP.

Mr. Sunak said: “I would say to the hon. Gentleman that I have spent a lot of time, care and attention listening to, and engaging with, the concerns of Unionism in NI—their concerns with the Protocol—and they have been uppermost in my mind as we have gone through these deliberations. I have strived and tried my utmost to deliver against those objectives, and I believe that this framework does that.

“The hon. Gentleman talks about the role of EU law. I would say to him, his colleagues, and everyone else that that is the reason why it is there, but ultimately, it is for the people of NI to decide.”

The Conservative Party leader said the ‘Stormont brake’ which will allow a cross-community majority of MLAs to block the application of EU law in the North and remove the democratic deficit of legislation without representation.

“He knows, as I do, that a consent vote will happen next year that provides approval for that set of arrangements, but I recognise that that is a blunt mechanism, an all-or-nothing mechanism, and it is right that we have greater sovereignty for the people of NI.

“The Stormont brake delivers that. It allows the Assembly—it allows 30 colleagues from two parties—to decide on the new EU laws, annex 2, that were put in the tests of his party.

“If those are laws that the hon. Gentleman feels are unacceptable, there will be an ability to block them, working with the UK Government. I think that is a powerful safeguard for NI sovereignty.

“It is something that I hope he gives time and consideration to, and I look forward to engaging with him and his colleagues on it over the coming days and weeks,” he said.

‘Windsor Framework’ introduces green lane for goods, Stormont brake to stop EU laws and protects Union, claims Sunak