{"id":26750,"date":"2022-07-09T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T19:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26750"},"modified":"2022-07-11T11:44:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T15:44:46","slug":"oneill-next-british-pm-must-understand-that-the-protocol-is-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26750","title":{"rendered":"O’Neill: Next British PM Must Understand That “The Protocol Is Here To Stay”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Sinn F\u00e9in vice president said Northern Ireland was the \u2018collateral damage\u2019 in the \u2018bedlam and chaos\u2019 within the Tory party (PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next British prime minister must face up to the reality that the Northern Ireland Protocol is here to stay, Michelle O\u2019Neill has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sinn F\u00e9in vice president said she has warned newly appointed British secretary of state for Northern Ireland Shailesh Vara that the UK government must stop \u201cplacating the DUP\u201d and start being \u201ceven-handed\u201d with Stormont\u2019s political parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinn F\u00e9in has accused the British government of doing the DUP\u2019s bidding by introducing domestic legislation at Westminster to empower ministers to unilaterally scrap parts of the contentious post-Brexit trading arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DUP is currently blocking the restoration of a Northern Ireland Executive in Belfast as part of its campaign against the Northern Ireland Protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party claims the trade arrangements have undermined the basis of power-sharing by creating barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Vara has replaced Brandon Lewis after he quit in the turbulent days ahead of Boris Johnson\u2019s decision to stand down as prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms O\u2019Neill, who attended an Eid celebration in Belfast on Saturday, said Northern Ireland was the \u201ccollateral damage\u201d in the \u201cbedlam and chaos\u201d at Westminster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have spoken with the new Secretary of State and I think even his appointment shows the interest that the British government have in the people here \u2013 he\u2019s the seventh Secretary of State in the last decade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey come, they go, they are not even-handed in their approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo when I spoke with the new secretary of state, for however long he\u2019s in post, I made it clear to him that I expect him to try to make Stormont work, to stop placating the DUP, that the people here voted to make politics work and their job as a co-guarantor of the (Good Friday) agreement is actually to be even-handed and try to bring that about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms O\u2019Neill added: \u201cThe protocol is here to stay, so they need to stop the high wire act and playing to the gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re caught up in this mess in what\u2019s happening within the Tory party and that\u2019s not good enough for the people here who we represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, the protocol is here to stay, it\u2019s a necessary mitigation to the hardest Brexit, which the DUP and the Tories delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, they now need to find ways to make it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we want is political certainty, political stability, that\u2019s certainly what the business community want and that\u2019s what the public voted for in the recent election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Share this:<\/h3>