A resolution to the problems with the Northern Ireland protocol is unlikely to be reached before the Stormont assembly elections in May, the leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) has said.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said that “very little progress” was being made in negotiations between the UK government and the EU, describing the likelihood of a swift resolution as “quite small”.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, and Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president, met in London on Friday to begin a series of intensive talks to try to end the impasse over the protocol. Despite both sides declaring they wanted a deal before March, hopes for success have remained low, with Boris Johnson privately putting the chances of a new deal for Northern Ireland being achieved this month at below 30%.
The DUP leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There is very little progress in the talks, as we saw yesterday. I think that the likelihood at the moment of agreement being reached is actually quite small. That was confirmed to me by the prime minister.
“He doesn’t expect, unless something changes dramatically, that agreement will be reached this side of an election, to remove the Irish Sea border.”
Donaldson said he “wish[ed] it were otherwise”. The DUP leader added: “I want to see the political institutions restored and operating fully restored – we’re committed to that. But we want to see Northern Ireland’s place within the UK internal market fully restored.”
His remarks follow the resignation last week of Northern Ireland’s first minister, the DUP’s Paul Givan, in protest over the protocol. The party say the protocol, designed to avoid a border on the island of Ireland, has eroded a cornerstone of power-sharing in the region – governance by both nationalists and unionists. The UK is pursuing an interim deal that would scrap most of the checks on food and farm products followed by a wider solution on government after the May elections.
Assembly elections are scheduled for 5 May, but there will be no functioning executive during the interim period, meaning some political decisions cannot be made.
Donaldson said that even while the assembly continues to pass legislation and departmental ministers are able to take decisions, “obviously without an executive being able to meet, without the north-south ministerial council being in place, there are certain decisions that can’t be taken”.
He accused the UK government of “dishonouring” its commitment to protect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market. “We entered government back at the beginning of 2020 following an agreement called New Decade, New Approach, and in that agreement the UK government gave a solemn commitment that it would protect Northern Ireland’s place within the UK internal market, that it would introduce measures to afford that protection.
“Over two years later it has not done so and we believe the UK government has dishonoured the agreement that was the basis upon which the devolved institutions were restored in Northern Ireland,” he said, adding that the DUP felt that it was “now time for the government to follow through and honour that commitment”.
