Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has been accused of “dancing on the head of a pin” after he again stressed that Northern Ireland can have dual market access – a claim that seemingly contradicts the opinion of one of his hardline MPs.
Quizzed on recent remarks by Sammy Wilson, in which the East Antrim MP said the EU single market and the UK single market were mutually exclusive, the DUP leader insisted both were possible with what he termed “privileged access” to the European trading bloc.
In the DUP leader’s new year message he said his aim was “safeguarding our place in the UK internal market both now and for the future, whilst retaining our access to the EU single market”.
He insisted these objectives were “not mutually exclusive”.
But Mr Wilson subsequently told the News Letter that “you can’t have both”.
“You can have pure access to the EU market and compromised access to the UK market”, or vice versa, “but you can’t have both. It’s as simple as that,” he aid.
Sir Jeffrey told the BBC his priority was restore the north’s place “within the United Kingdom and its internal market”.
“That’s what we said in our assembly manifesto in 2022 – we have not at any stage, demurred or deviated from that objective,” he said.
However, he said he also wanted to ensure that those businesses in the region that trade with the EU can continue to do so.
Asked if this was what Mr Wilson had characterised as “compromised access” to the EU single market, Sir Jeffrey said he preferred to call it “privileged access”.
When pressed on whether access to the UK and EU single markets was mutually exclusive, the DUP leader said they were not.
“We can continue to trade with the EU on a privileged basis as we do at the moment for goods but we can have our ability to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom properly restored,” he said.
Sir Jeffrey also said that the DUP was still in talks with the British government, even though Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris insisted before Christmas that negotiations were over.
“I will be talking to the UK government this week and the idea that they’re not willing to talk is simply not true,” he said.
“We hope to hear from them when we meet them this week on what further progress has been made.”
The Lagan Valley MP said the discussions were “of substance”.
“They are not some form of play acting,” he said.
“I want to make progress in the weeks ahead so that we can see Northern Ireland’s place within the UK and its internal market restored and we have a sustainable basis for restoring our political institutions.”
SDLP MP Claire Hanna urged the DUP to end its boycott, saying the party was out of step with business groups.
“It’s embarrassing listening to Jeffrey Donaldson and Sammy Wilson dance on the head of a pin over the definition of dual market access when both are complicit in denying the people of Northern Ireland a government to address serious issues in our health service, pay justice for public sector workers, childcare for working families and all the other challenges that ordinary people are facing,” she said.
“No credible business group supports further barriers to trade or can stand over the huge job losses some DUP reps are advocating.”
TUV leader Jim Allister disputed the DUP leader’s claim over “privileged access” to the EU single market.
“It would be better called submissive access or even purchased access, because it inevitably comes at the price of submitting to EU law, the EU court and its Irish Sea border,” he said.