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Brexit: DUP sets out seven tests for NI deal

UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor Sir Jeffrey DonaldsonUK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

The DUP leader has set out seven tests which he says will need to be passed if his party is to support any special post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson set out the tests during a House of Commons debate.

They include no new checks of any sort on goods being traded between GB and NI.

That excludes pre-Brexit checks on livestock and goods which are moving onwards from NI.

The other tests are:

  • Compatibility with the Act of Union which says all parts of the UK should be on equal footing when it comes to trade
  • Avoiding any diversion of trade where NI customers are forced to switch to non-GB suppliers
  • No border in the Irish Sea
  • NI citizens to have a role in any new regulations which impact them
  • No new regulatory barriers between GB and NI unless agreed by the NI Assembly
  • Honouring the 'letter and spirit' of NI's constitutional position as set out in the Good Friday Agreement by requiring upfront consent of any diminution in constitutional status
PACEMAKER Larne Says No to Irish Sea border signPACEMAKER
There has been some opposition to the NI protocol

He said: "There is no pragmatic or practical reason why arrangements cannot be put in place which can satisfy these tests and prove no meaningful threat to the integrity of the EU single market."

For the tests to be met it would require the EU or UK to fundamentally change their approach to Northern Ireland or Brexit.

The DUP leader said that if the political arrangements in Northern Ireland were to last, they needed support from right across the community.

He said the Northern Ireland Protocol posed "the greatest ever threat to the economic integrity of the United Kingdom".

"It would be socially disruptive, economically ruinous and politically disastrous for Northern Ireland," he said.

"The Protocol was "unsustainable and it has to go," said Sir Jeffrey.

Earlier the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee heard from NI businesses which said a Brexit row over sausages was a "red herring", but bigger problems were looming.