DUP to undermine Northern Ireland Protocol

First Minister Arlene Foster's party the DUP has begun a coordinated attempt to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol. File picture.

The DUP is to launch a coordinated bid to undermine the protocol in Belfast and London.

That includes an online petition calling for the UK Government to remove barriers to unfettered trade and opposing protocol-related legislation in the Stormont Assembly.

The party promised to work with other unionists to send a united message to London, Brussels and Dublin that Northern Ireland must be freed from the post-Brexit arrangement and its problems.

It also said it will:

– Not participate in any north/south political engagement on issues related to the protocol.

– Strive for a united unionist message demanding scrapping of the arrangements.

– Attempt to build support for the anti-protocol position at Westminster.

– Launch a parliamentary e-petition with the ambition of securing enough signatures to force a debate on the issue.

Political parties in Belfast are sharply divided on EU withdrawal and the protocol, which keeps the land border in Ireland open but imposes controls on the Irish Sea.

Loyalists are angry at what they see as the imposition of a new economic frontier with the rest of the UK due to the Northern Ireland Protocol keeping the Irish land border open.

Inspections of goods arriving at Larne and Belfast ports were suspended on Monday and officials withdrawn after sinister graffiti and reports of intelligence-gathering on inspectors.

However, police have said disgruntled individuals or small groups may be responsible, rather than the organised gangs that once instigated serious violence.

The European Commission said Brussels’ representatives were also being temporarily withdrawn from duties at the ports.

Stormont’s Department of Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) officials left while 12 local council workers also pulled out of Larne on Monday following an “upsurge in sinister and menacing behaviour in recent weeks”.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is stepping up patrols near the ports.