Thread by @NashSGC

It has become commonplace for senior members of the DUP to state that the Protocol changes the constitutional position of NI within the United Kingdom. This is not true.

The Protocol is unequivocal with regards to NI’s position within the United Kingdom. The preamble affirms that “the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement…shld be protected in all its parts”...

...that agreement (the GFA), in turn, sets out a clear process for bringing about a change in the constitutional status of NI within the UK. That process has not been undertaken.

The preamble also notes that NI “is part of the customs territory of the UK and will benefit from participation in the UK’s independent trade policy”.

Art. 4 builds on this stating:
- “Northern Ireland is part of the customs territory of the UK”
- “…nothing in this Protocol shall prevent the UK from including NI in the territorial scope of any agreements it may conclude with third countries”

Art. 4 continues:
- “…nothing in this Protocol shall prevent the UK from concluding agreements with a third country that grant goods produced in NI preferential access to that country’s market”.

Art 4. also states:
- “Nothing in this Protocol shall prevent the UK from including NI in the territorial scope of its Schedules of Concessions annexed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994”.

All these statements and provisions are evidence of a legal text that is carefully & quite deliberately confirming & reconfirming that NI’s constitutional status within the U.K. remains unchanged. Members of the DUP should stop claiming otherwise.

The DUP also claim that there is a democratic deficit in relation to the Protocol, which has led Edwin Poots to call for a referendum on it. The view here is that NI never consented to the Protocol.

The Protocol does create a democratic deficit, but not the one Poots and the DUP are pointing to.

The Protocol received democratic consent in a manner that is completely consistent with U.K. democratic norms. It was negotiated by a democratically elected government…

…that government then went to the electorate by way of a general election to seek a mandate to implement the Withdrawal Agreement in full, including the Protocol, & the electorate provided that mandate by re-electing the government with an overwhelming majority.

Finally, a new, democratically elected Parl ratified the WA & the Protocol. The DUP may not like this. They may not like the Protocol. But the Protocol has been brought into force on the back of irrefutable democratic consent in line with the UK’s democratic norms.

Where the DUP can legitimately point to a democratic deficit is in relation the continuing application of some EU rules in NI.

To remove the need for checks/a border on the island of Ireland, NI must dynamically align with some EU rules related to the movement of goods.

However, none of NI’s democratically elected representative (either from the Assembly or Westminster) will have voting rights as new rules develop. NI is now a rule taker.

This gets to the heart of the DUP’s issue with the Protocol. First it annoys the Brexiter in them. Brexiters in GB have freed themselves of EU rules, those in NI have not. It must feel odd to be on the same team but end the game with a different result.

Second, it rankles the unionist in them. They know that, to shape future EU rules that will apply in NI, they will have to lobby EU MS so the views of NI are considered when votes are cast in Brussels. Ultimately, this points to working with Dublin. The DUP resents this, deeply.

For all the DUP‘s claims that the Protocol changes NI’s constitutional status & doesn't have democratic consent, the truth is that they dislike it because it leaves Brexit undone in NI, & will lead to pragmatic politicians in NI seeking cooperation with Dublin.

The DUP would do well to be more honest about this.