Lord Dodds said,
“Both the economic and constitutional aspects of the Protocol will have to be addressed when Lord Frost makes his long-awaited statement next week.
The economic and trade advantages of the Protocol are heavily outweighed by the disadvantages. I welcome the confirmation of that by the Minister Lord Frost in Parliament this week.
The easing of access for the smaller number of Northern Ireland companies that trade with the EU, compared with the greater restrictions on trade for the much larger number of companies that trade with Great Britain, is not a sensible or economically beneficial way to proceed for Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland trades more with the rest of the UK than with the Irish Republic, the EU and the rest of the world put together.
So the confirmation by Lord Frost to both the Select Committee in the House of Lords and in the Lords Chamber on Thursday that the Protocol’s advantages are outweighed by its disadvantages should pave the way for radical change when he announces his proposals next week.
On the constitutional aspect, Lord Frost’s revelation that the EU has dropped over 800 pieces of legislation affecting Northern Ireland into the UK’s in tray last Thursday, which included 666 which had already been adopted, is a startling reminder of the massive democratic deficit at the heart of the Protocol. And for good measure, in many respects, no more information was provided about them than what you could read in the Official Journal. No legislator at either Stormont or Westminster will of course have any vote on any of these.
The Government will have to produce meaningful and radical proposals next week if they are to restore economic and democratic common sense to Northern Ireland.”