Brexit: DUP warns Rishi Sunak not to leave Northern Ireland ‘abandoned to EU’

The DUP has warned Rishi Sunak that it will not accept a deal on the Irish border that leaves Northern Ireland “abandoned to the EU”.

The prime minister has been in Belfast on Friday holding meetings with parties amid reports of progress towards an agreement.

Sinn Fein has welcomed “very significant progress” in talks while the moderate Ulster Unionist Party suggested there had been quicker than expected resolution of “sticking points”.

But Sammy Wilson, the DUP MP for East Antrim, on Friday morning took the opportunity to reiterate his party’s red lines.

Speaking on BBC Radio’s 4’s Today programme Mr Wilson said his party could not accept the automatic application of EU law in Northern Ireland.

“What we want to hear from him most importantly, is where the negotiations have reached in removing the automatic application of EU law to Northern Ireland without any democratic input from the representatives in Northern Ireland and without any ability to change those laws if they’re detrimental to Northern Ireland,” he said.

Mr Wilson added that Northern Ireland had been left “abandoned to the EU” by the Brexit deals struck by Boris Johnson in 2019.

The deal on the cards is expected to move to eliminate many of the checks placed on goods moving between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

But it would be unlikely to remove the application of EU law to Northern Ireland, a fundamental principle of the treaty signed by the UK and EU.

The DUP’s view on the agreement is however important because the party is currently blocking the restoration of a power sharing administration in Stormont – leaving Northern Ireland without a government.

Speaking after a meeting with Mr Sunak, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said there were greater issues at stake than the DUP’s red lines.

“I believe that very, very significant progress has been made and I believe that a deal is absolutely possible, and absolutely necessary,” she said.

“I think the British Prime Minister is here to see what everybody thinks and to listen to all perspectives.

“The DUP talk about their tests. But, you know, there’s one bigger test for everyone. And that’s the test of what people expect.

“There will be a test for everyone. The test will be are you prepared to govern? Are you prepared to share power on the basis of equality? And everybody concerned is going to face that test, we believe, fairly soon.”

Ms McDonald described the meeting with the British prime minister as “very constructive” and said MR Sunak “accepts that the core of the protocol has worked” but needed further refinement.

“There’s no doubt, the protocol is a consequence of Brexit and the protocol is necessary, and the Prime Minister is in absolutely no doubt of that,” she said.

Naomi Long, leader of the non-aligned Alliance party, also described her meeting with Mr Sunak as “constructive and positive”, while UUP chief Doug Beattie said Mr Sunak had told him that “there’s a way to go yet”.

“That doesn’t mean that things won’t move quickly, ” he said.

“Really, all he said was things are moving quicker than he probably anticipated them actually moving. But when he says there’s still some way to go, that sort of tells me that we could be talking next week, that doesn’t mean it will be next week, it could be the week after.

“I think some things that were sticking points may have been fixed quicker than they probably thought they were going to be fixed, and, therefore, where they thought they may have had a long protracted discussion about something, I think it resolved itself quite quickly.”

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