Sir Jeffrey said,
“We remain focused on getting a fair and balanced outcome. Our goal throughout this process has been to restore Northern Ireland’s place within the UK Internal Market as set out in our Manifesto.
Northern Ireland should never have been subjected to arrangements that not one unionist MLA supported.
For as long as I have been involved in Northern Ireland talks processes, the lesson at every juncture has been that lasting progress is only achieved when the outcome could be supported by unionists as well as nationalists.
The Northern Ireland that this party is trying to build is one where we all can feel at home whether we are British, Irish, Northern Irish or somewhere in-between. The arrangements foisted on unionists by the NI Protocol jeopardised all of this. They were hugely destabilising and set Northern Ireland back rather than moving us forward. The balance must be restored.
Whilst we are making progress with the Government, there remains more work to be done. We have been given a task by the electorate and we are going to finish the job. Together, we will succeed.”