Johnson needs to ‘deal with’ NI Protocol, says outgoing DUP leader

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson “needs to deal with” the Northern Irish Protocol, outgoing DUP leader Arlene Foster told the media outside Downing Street after she met with Johnson for the last time before she is set to step down from her role in June, the Irish Times reported.

“I believe in Brexit because I believe that we needed to leave the European Union and all of the stringent rules that were there, to allow us to be more flexible, to allow us to have a place in the world,” said the outgoing DUP leader.

“But if the United Kingdom is to have a new place in the world, Northern Ireland must be part of that and at present, because of the protocol, we’re not. Every day the protocol remains the way it is, there’s more damage done to Northern Ireland,” she added.

On the EU invoking Article 16 in January amid a row over vaccine delivery shortfalls, Foster said that it “may well be the case” the provision will again be invoked over trade.

“We’ve said all along, when the European Commission tried to invoke Article 16 at the end of January, that the Europeans were quite happy to do it in terms of vaccines and making sure that they had enough vaccines,” Foster added.

“This is doing real damage to Northern Ireland in terms of our trade, but also in terms of the union and therefore the prime minister needs to act and I hope that Lord Frost (chief Brexit negotiator) will bring forward proposals very very soon,” she added.

Foster will be replaced by Edwin Poots who has promised to abolish the protocol. (Paula Kenny | EURACTIV.com)