Majority of MLAs sign letter to Boris Johnson rejecting legislation to amend NI Protocol
90 A Fifty The Stormont Mlas Johnson Picture: Two Have Signed To Pa Of Boris Letter
A majority of MLAs in the Stormont Assembly have signed a joint letter to prime minister Boris Johnson stating their opposition to proposed legislation to amend the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The letter has been signed by 52 of the 90 MLAs. They represent Sinn Féin, the SDLP, and the Alliance Party.
Sinn Féin Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill is among the signatories.
In a tweet she described the “unilateral actions of Boris Johnson” as “utterly reckless”.
“It is clearly a breach of International Law. The impact on our businesses and economy could be colossal. The pro-protocol parties have jointly written to Boris Johnson today to firmly reject his legislation and approach,” she tweeted.
The unilateral actions of Boris Johnson are utterly reckless. It is clearly a breach of International Law. The impact on our businesses & economy could be colossal. The pro-protocol parties have jointly written to Boris Johnson today to firmly reject his legislation and approach pic.twitter.com/dzhBVAPJfJ
— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) June 13, 2022
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has also stated his opposition to the proposed legislation, saying it would “ratchet up” tension and breach the UK’s international commitments.
However, Mr Johnson has said the plan to effectively override parts of the Brexit deal with Brussels was “not a big deal”, and would introduce “relatively simple” bureaucratic changes.
The letter to Mr Johnson from the 52 MLAs said they “reject in the strongest possible terms your Government’s reckless new Protocol legislation, which flies in the face of the expressed wishes of not just most businesses, but most people in Northern Ireland”.
It continues: “Whilst not ideal, the protocol currently represents the only available protections for Northern Ireland from the worst impacts of that hard Brexit.”
The MLAs say they share the desire to see post-Brexit arrangements work as smoothly as possible, but said the best way to achieve this is through engagement with the European Union.
“It is clear that solutions are available and deliverable – as have already been delivered in the area of medicines – but this must be on the basis of trust and the rule of law rather than law breaking and unilateral abrogation of treaty obligations,” they say.
The MLAs said they “strongly reject” Mr Johnson’s claim to be protecting the Good Friday Agreement.
“To complain the Protocol lacks cross-community consent, while ignoring the fact that Brexit itself – let alone hard Brexit – lacks even basic majority consent here, is a grotesque act of political distortion,” they write.
“Your claims to be acting to protect our institutions is as much a fabrication as the Brexit campaign claims you made in 2016.”
They concluded: “We will resolutely oppose this reckless Bill and continue to promote post-Brexit solutions on the basis of trust and honesty.”