SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood
The Foyle MP was speaking following further threats from senior British Government Ministers, cheered on by the DUP.
Said the Foyle MP: “People have had enough of the games over the operation of the protocol.
“Everyone can clearly see that in an attempt to dig itself out of a political hole, the DUP is prepared to whip up fear, anger and resentment over port checks that affect virtually no one’s daily life.
“They are being enabled by British Government Ministers desperate for a political fight to distract from their disastrous management of the Covid-19 pandemic and a series of Tory sleaze stories that have, remarkably, further diminished their authority.
“What good is a fight over the protocol to people waiting on surgery for cancer?
“What good is it to families struggling to keep their homes warm in the middle of a count of living crisis?
“The political tribulations of one party cannot be allowed to corrupt the priorities of government and the need to deliver for people in desperate need.
“The re-emergence of the Tory Article 16 threat is as tired as the DUP and Sinn Féin threats to collapse Stormont.
“It solves nothing, it helps nobody, it will only make things worse.
“I understand that Liz Truss will meet with political and business leaders in the coming days.
“She will receive the same message that everyone else has – there are solutions to all the problems we face but they require flexibility and generosity, not threats and instability.”
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