Cynical betrayal of unionist community

As members of the so-called ‘Conservative and Unionist’ party hold their annual conference in Birmingham their cynical betrayal of unionists in Northern Ireland continues.

Just a month ago Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney publicly declared that whatever happened, Northern Ireland must forever remain part of the EU Single Market for goods.

Meanwhile the UK government’s published proposals for reform of the Northern Ireland protocol all require that Northern Ireland should no longer be part of the EU Single Market.

Now there is rising optimism that a deal can be negotiated, so clearly one side or the other has indicated its willingness to back down; I think I can guess which side that is.

Fourteen months ago the Government said that it stood ready to pass new UK laws to protect the EU Single Market,

creating export controls on goods crossing the land border.

As something like half of the goods crossing the border have been produced in Northern Ireland, not brought in from outside, that would have been a more effective solution.

If Liz Truss was sincere in her stated intention of sorting out the protocol problem, with or without the agreement of the EU, then she would have introduced that legislation.

Dr D R Cooper Belmont Park Avenue

Maidenhead