Opposing the Protocol –Our Record

 23 June 2016

United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union in national referendum.

 13 July 2016

Theresa May becomes Prime Minister

 29 March 2017

Prime Minister triggers Article 50

 8 December 2017

UK and EU publish a Joint Report on progress made during Phase 1 of negotiations. DUP secures the following commitments in paragraph 50

‘‘the United Kingdom will ensure that no new regulatory barriers develop between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, unless…the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly agree that distinct arrangements are appropriate for Northern Ireland.’’

‘‘in all circumstances, the United Kingdom will continue to ensure the same unfettered access for Northern Ireland’s businesses to the whole of the United Kingdom internal market’’

 14 November 2018

Theresa May’s draft deal with EU is published. Under the terms of the ‘backstop’, the whole of the UK would remain in a “single customs territory” but Northern Ireland alone would continue to be subject to EU law in areas like VAT, agriculture, environment and product standards. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson tells the Commons it ‘‘fundamentally undermines the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom.’’

 21 November 2018

Nigel Dodds MP asks the Prime Minister why she has pushed ‘the delete button’ in respect of Paragraph 50 of the Joint Report and abandoned need for Stormont approval of any divergence between GB and NI.

 5 December 2018

Government publishes the Attorney General’s legal advice to Cabinet. It confirms that Northern Ireland could be trapped in backstop indefinitely, with protracted rounds of negotiations with EU. Sammy Wilson MP responds:

‘‘In December, we sat with the Prime Minister in Downing Street and she said, “I will make sure that Northern Ireland has the final say in this because the Assembly will be the final arbiter as to whether or not these arrangements are put in place.” Those promises were taken out of the agreement. There has been bad faith. The agreement and understanding that we had has been broken.’’

 9 January 2019

New UK position paper published. Includes commitments to seek the agreement of the Northern Ireland Assembly if the UK Government were ever to consider agreeing to add new areas of law to the Protocol and a ‘‘mandatory process of consultation’’ with the Assembly before the rules take effect. Nigel Dodds describes proposals as ‘cosmetic’ and ‘meaningless.’

 15 January 2019

The Prime Minister loses the first ‘Meaningful Vote’ on the backstop. DUP MPs vote against the deal.

 12 March 2019

The Prime Minister loses the second meaningful vote after the Attorney-General says minor revisions to the deal do not guarantee that the UK can exit the backstop unilaterally. DUPs again vote against the deal.

 29 March 2019

The government loses a third meaningful vote in the House of Commons. DUP MPs vote against the deal for a third time. A DUP statement warns that ‘the backstop if operational has the potential to create an internal trade border within the United Kingdom and would cut us off from our main internal market, being Great Britain.’

 23 July 2019

Boris Johnson wins the Conservative Party leadership contest and becomes Prime Minister

 3 October 2019

The Prime Minister delivers a statement to the Commons, outlining the Government’s proposals for a new Brexit deal. Includes pledge that ‘‘before the end of the transition period, and every four years afterwards, the UK will provide an opportunity for democratic consent to these arrangements in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive, within the framework set by the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. If consent is withheld, the arrangements will not enter into force or will lapse”… DUP Leader Arlene Foster says this would give ‘the people of Northern Ireland the consent that they didn’t have in terms of the anti-democratic nature of the backstop.’’

 17 October 2019

The UK and EU announce they have struck a new Brexit deal. The pledge provided by the Prime Minister two weeks previously, which would have required Assembly consent for the Protocol entering force, is dropped. Nigel Dodds says Boris Johnson was “too eager by far to get a deal at any cost.” A separate DUP statement states that ‘‘the principles of the Belfast Agreement on consent have been abandoned in favour of majority rule.’’

 12 December 2019

Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party win snap General Election.

 20 December 2019

DUP MPs vote against the Withdrawal Agreement/ Protocol in the House of Commons.

 8 January 2020

DUP agrees to re-enter the Executive and Assembly on the basis of Government commitments contained in ‘New Decade New Approach.’ This includes to ‘‘legislate to guarantee unfettered access for Northern Ireland’s businesses to the whole of the UK internal market’’ by 1 January 2021.

 31 January 2020

The UK leaves the EU and the implementation period begins.

 31 December 2020

The transition period ends at 11pm and Great Britain leaves the EU single market and customs union. Northern Ireland is now subject to the Protocol.

 26 February 2021

DUP Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons halts construction of border posts at NI ports, stops recruitment of inspection staff and prevent charges for traders bringing goods from GB to NI.

 1 July 2021

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson makes clear in a keynote address that the Protocol is incompatible with devolution

 15 July 2021

DUP Leader sets out ‘Seven Tests’ for any new arrangements regarding the Northern Ireland Protocol.

 9 September 2021

DUP ministers withdraw from North-South political structures

 3 February 2022

DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson withdraws the First Minister; DUP Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots instructs all checks at NI ports on GB goods to cease