Brexit: PM has 'wakened up to threat posed to union' - Paisley

DUP MP Ian Paisley has defended new legislation from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that could override the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

He said Mr Johnson had "wakened up to the serious threat posed to the union".

The EU has warned the UK it could face legal action if it does not ditch controversial elements of the Internal Market Bill by the end of the month.

But Mr Johnson said the bill is needed to ensure there is no "full-scale trade border down the Irish Sea".

In a column in the Daily Telegraph, he accused the EU of adopting an "extreme" interpretation of the NI Protocol, which is contained within the withdrawal agreement, that could stop the transport of food from Britain to NI.

He has faced intense criticism from some members of his own party.

'Use NI as a pawn'

Mr Paisley told BBC 5Live he was "furious" but "not surprised".

"Throughout the negotiations we warned that there was an ulterior motive, that the European community was going to punish the UK," he said.

"The best way they found of punishing the UK was to attack the political, social and economic integrity of our nation and the best and easier way they found was to use Northern Ireland as a pawn.

"Northern Ireland will not be used as a pawn - we opposed the withdrawal agreement, we warned about this protocol, we said it would damage the integrity.

"I am glad, maybe at the last minute, the PM has wakened up to the serious threat that this poses to the union," he said.

"If the prime minister has the mettle to finish the job I welcome that but we will find out this Wednesday if he has a tinfoil spine and if he is not prepared to stand up to Europe, as the people of NI do not deserve to be treated differently to people in the rest of the UK," he added.

'Protocol is messy but necessary'

However Alliance MP for North Down Stephen Farry said the bill was "disingenuous" and "nonsense".

"Instability and uncertainty has been caused by Brexit," he said.

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"Northern Ireland only works based on sharing and interdependence. The harder the Brexit, greater the challenge. The protocol is messy but necessary means to manage the fallout," he added.

Mr Johnson is likely to face a rebellion over the legislation as there are a number of his MPs who are not happy with the fact that it would breach international law.

In a Zoom call with about 250 of them, he said the party must not return to "miserable squabbling" over Europe.

Conservative backbencher Sir Bob Neill, who chairs the Commons Justice Committee, said he was not reassured by the prime minister's Zoom call.

He is tabling an amendment to the bill to try to force a separate parliamentary vote on any changes to the withdrawal agreement.

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"I believe it is potentially a harmful act for this country, it would damage our reputation and I think it will make it harder to strike trade deals going forward," he said.

At about the same time as the prime minister was speaking, the European Parliament announced it would "under no circumstances ratify" any trade deal reached between the UK and EU if the "UK authorities breach or threaten to breach" the withdrawal agreement.

There is unease over this within the Conservative Party, with former leaders Theresa May, Lord Howard and Sir John Major urging Mr Johnson to think again.

The two sides have less than five weeks to agree a deal before Mr Johnson's 15 October deadline - after which he says he is prepared to "walk away".