THE DUP last year privately lobbied the British government for a “Swiss-style” deal of the type that it later appeared hostile to.
In a letter to agriculture secretary George Eustice last June, Stormont minister Edwin Poots described alignment with EU rules on food and agricultural products as a “key ask” in reducing the impact of the Irish Sea border.
“This could be achieved, for example, by dynamic alignment with relevant parts of the EU acquis and the UK joining the common veterinary area (as in the Swiss/EU arrangement),” he wrote in the letter copied to Scottish and Welsh governments that has been obtained by the Financial Times.
The DUP agriculture minister said the demands “must be met” in order to avoid “unacceptable burdens” on Northern Ireland’s population.
“We are always prepared to play a full role in making this work and it is my hope and expectation that UKG [UK government] will take a similar approach in working with us,” he wrote.
The British government ignored the demands, meeting only one of the DUP’s requests – that it meet the costs of new export bureaucracy for businesses.
Last week, DUP Economy Minister Diane Dodds initially rejected calls to explore a Swiss-style deal, saying it would require the UK to “slavishly” align with Europe.
Over subsequent days, the party's line appeared to soften, however, with DUP leader Arlene Foster saying such a arrangement only dealt with “one aspect” of the protocol.
Mrs Dodds said she was “not against a Swiss-deal deal in and of itself”.
A DUP statement said: “The Swiss arrangement would be an improvement on the protocol but would not resolve all our problems. We want to see permanent unfettered trade between GB and NI as we were promised, and it is up to the UK government to be bold in how they deliver that.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described the DUP's approach as "erratic" and said it risked "infecting and affecting economic and political stability in the north".
"The DUP can’t keep talking out of both sides of their mouth," he said.
"Telling loyalism that you want the protocol scrapped, with no alternative other than a hard border in Ireland, while quietly asking the British government for dynamic alignment on SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) rules is fundamentally dishonest."
