UUP Leader Doug Beattie MC MLA said:

“This is a significant intervention from Tony Blair, and one that illustrates the growing number of people recognising the fundamental problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol.   We have been saying that the Protocol is a bad deal and undermines the Belfast Agreement since 2019.

“It is now widely accepted that there should be no checks on goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland that are staying here.  I again say that the EU must change its mandate.  I told Maros Sefcovic face to face in March that if progress was not made before the Assembly election, then what might come afterwards could be unsalvageable.  This is not a problem that can be wished away or resolved by finger pointing.     

“The best way through this is with negotiation.  I am glad the report acknowledges it is the obligation of both the UK and the European Union to find a way through the present stalemate.  While we have been critical of the UK Government’s role in what was the genesis of the Protocol, there is an onus on the EU to show flexibility in acknowledging and accommodating the unique considerations of Northern Ireland and its constitutional position.”