Ian Paisley: New PM must resist House of Lords shenanigans over Protocol Bill

In an address to the DUP’s North Antrim constituency association on Monday night, Mr Paisley said the next occupant of 10 Downing Street should have “no breathing room, no honeymoon period” as they must immediately deal with overturning the Union-threatening aspects of the NI Protocol.

“They will need to take immediate action to protect the integrity of the Union and demonstrate to the EU that the protocol reign is now over. That Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market is restored and that never again will a part of the UK’s territory be treated with such contempt,” Mr Paisley said.

On the return of Parliament and the NI Protocol Bill about to be scrutinised in the House of Lords, the North Antrim MP said: “We already have those members of the Lords, who claim ‘expertise’ over all things Northern Ireland, saying they will decimate the Protocol Bill and will frustrate and prolong its passage through the House of Lords.

“The longer the protocol is not dealt with, the longer Northern Ireland will be without fully functioning devolution. Northern Ireland ministers cannot be expected to manage departments which are implementing a protocol that is undermining Northern Ireland.”

Mr Paisley continued: “Every day the House of Lords delays the government in dealing with the protocol, they also delay fully devolved government. The Lords must take responsibility for whether or not political stability is restored soon.

“If the UK government, under a new prime minister, is delayed in making progress on the protocol by the shenanigans in the Lords, they will be forced to think about enabling departments here to make decisions without an NI Executive and Assembly. So action is required now.”

He challenged peers to accelerate the passage of the NI Protocol Bill for Royal Assent within one week of Parliament’s return.

“That would be the right thing to do,” Mr Paisley said.

He said the DUP’s insistence that the UK Treasury extend energy support payments to people in Northern Ireland ensured that a dispute over this aid to hard-pressed households in the Province did not drag on for months.

The DUP MP said the revelation last week that the EU had imposed 25% tariffs on steel imports was yet “another warning” that Brussels was attempting to smother and destroy by protocol bureaucracy Northern Ireland’s economy.

“I’m not in the least big surprised that nationalist and republican parties are protocol backers. Making Northern Ireland an economic basket case has always been at the heart of republicanism. It is shameful, however, that the Alliance Party is still calling for the ‘full implementation’ of the protocol.”