Matthew Robinson

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗨𝗨𝗣 · 𝗧𝗨𝗩 · 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗨𝗞 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Yesterday MLAs triggered the Stormont Brake over the application to Northern Ireland of the EU's new Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108. The new code redefines the terms of the customs border that has cut the UK in two. This is only the second time the Stormont Brake mechanism has been triggered. Today Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows MLA and TUV leader Jim Allister KC MP issued statements, together with Peter Summerton, Chair of the Inter-Trade UK Business Association (ITUKBA). Jon Burrows MLA, Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said: “The Ulster Unionist Party has been raising very real concerns about the negative consequences of the EU’s new Union Customs Code for well over a year. That is why we are working with other unionists to pull the Stormont Brake. “At the recent meeting of the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee, members received very clear advice that the Union Customs Code is a significant change to the existing rules and regulations. That is an understatement. The new code, which Northern Ireland will be regulated by, fundamentally deepens the divergence between ourselves and the rest of our nation. “It will mean substantially more bureaucracy, more regulation, new digital labelling and much more. We were also told that within our part of the United Kingdom, EU customs law now has primacy. This does no one any good, and that is why the Ulster Unionist Party is calling on the Secretary of State and the UK Government to operate the Stormont Brake and support Northern Ireland businesses.” Jim Allister KC MP, Leader of the TUV, said: “It is absolutely right that all unionists come together to pull the brake on EU Regulation 2026/2108. This legislation does not simply continue the customs border. It makes the border more disruptive in a way that will have a permanent negative effect that is likely to persist. “In this context it is extraordinary to witness the UK Government simultaneously telling the people of GB that it is imperative to move the SPS border between GB and other countries to assist trade, even as it welcomes the renewed division of the United Kingdom by an international customs border cutting our country in two. This is an intolerable situation that cannot be allowed to continue.” Peter Summerton, Chair of the Inter-Trade UK Business Association, said: “The impact of imposing a customs border within a domestic supply chain under EU Regulation 2013/952 inevitably caused significant constraints on the supply chain between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Department for the Economy has acknowledged and reported on this. Many businesses have simply ceased trading with Northern Ireland. “The new Customs Code applied in EU Regulation 2016/2108 is plainly worse. It will lead to a further deterioration in GB–NI trade and increase trade diversion, distorting natural commercial activity. This is the opposite of the stated intention of the Windsor Framework, so it is essential that the assurances given to business in the Framework are enacted. “The Secretary of State must apply the brake to prevent further distortion to the market. Effective trading between GB and NI is in the best interests of everyone in Northern Ireland, and ITUKBA calls on all elected representatives to support the application of the safeguards.” The notification to pull the Brake has been lodged with the Assembly Speaker, who must now send it to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State then decides whether the legal conditions for applying the Brake have been met.

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jon Burrows MLA has rejected reported comments by Chief Constable Jon Boutcher describing remaining Provisional IRA members as older people who seek to cause no harm. He said the organisation’s continued existence is “anathema to democracy” and a latent threat to the people of Northern Ireland. Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jon Burrows MLA said: “If the Chief Constable’s comments have been reported accurately, and he has characterised remaining Provisional IRA members as older people who seek to cause no harm to Northern Ireland, then I take an entirely different view. “The Provisional IRA is a proscribed terrorist organisation. Membership is a serious criminal offence. Age does not make membership harmless, nor the organisation’s continued existence acceptable. “Its very existence is anathema to democracy and, in my view, represents a latent threat to the people of Northern Ireland. Its name carries menace for those who suffered at its hands. There is no legitimate, benign or peaceful justification for maintaining a terrorist organisation. “What purpose do its remaining structures serve? If they exist to exercise control over Sinn Féin, that raises profoundly disturbing questions for democracy. If they exist to preserve the option of rebuilding a capacity for violence, that is equally disturbing. The public deserves answers. “The 2015 security assessment found that the Provisional IRA retained structures and access to some weapons. It also assessed its leadership as committed to peaceful political means. That assessment does not make the organisation’s continued existence acceptable. “On 16th October, I wrote to the Secretary of State requesting a fresh, comprehensive security assessment of all paramilitary organisations, including the Provisional IRA. I welcome the DUP’s subsequent support for that call. The Secretary of State should now commission and publish an updated assessment. “There is also a legitimate question for the Chief Constable: what investigative strategy does the PSNI have to identify those who remain members of the Provisional IRA, investigate suspected membership offences and, where the evidence supports it, make arrests and submit files to the Public Prosecution Service? “The standard must be the same for every terrorist organisation, republican or loyalist. All should disband, and the law must be enforced without fear or favour.”