OUTGOING DUP leader Edwin Poots has been warned not to heed "irresponsible promises" from the British government about significant changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The warning came after the agriculture minister claimed he had received a personal assurance from Secretary of State Brandon Lewis that there would be movement on the post-Brexit trade arrangements in July.
With the grace period on chilled meats due to expire at the end of the month, it has been reported that the UK is considering a unilateral extension, which could potentially trigger a retaliation from the EU.
Brexit minister Lord Frost further fuelled speculation about unilateral action yesterday when he told Westminster's Foreign Affairs Committee that it was "hard to see" how the protocol could survive in its current form.
Lord Frost would not be drawn on private conversations between ministers and Mr Poots but accused the European Union of failing to show enough "pragmatism" to make the protocol work.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Poots said he proceeded with last week's appointment of Paul Givan as first minister because he believed he could oppose the protocol more effectively with a functioning assembly.
"My focus is on the Northern Ireland Protocol because that is what makes a constitutional difference to Northern Ireland," he told the BBC.
"Yes, I have received assurances that there will be changes to the protocol and that that will be very significant, that the UK government are not going to tolerate how things are and how the EU have conducted themselves since the protocol."
When asked if he had received the assurances personally, Mr Poots said: "Yes."
He added: "We are looking to these changes happening in July, most likely early July.
"We believe that there is a significant victory to be won on the protocol. I will hand over at the end of June (to the new DUP leader) and hopefully most of the work will actually be achieved by that stage and we can make those gains."
But when pressed on the nature of the changes he had been promised, Mr Poots said he had no detail.
"We haven't got detail but fundamentally for me the issues that really need to be resolved are the issues around the constitution because UK lawyers argued that the Act of Union was seceded by the withdrawal act," he said.
"I want a very clear statement from the UK government that that is not the case. The democratic deficit, nowhere else in the world are laws being made by 25 or 26 other countries for a country who has no say in those laws.
"How ridiculous is that, that people are signing up to an agreement which doesn't have democracy contained in it? And then we have all of the trading issues of course, which have been highlighted over and over again. My ultimate desire is that the protocol goes in its entirety."
Sinn Féin MP John Finucane said Mr Poots had not provided any detail and described his claim as a "red herring".
“I would be very reluctant to take what Edwin Poots has said today, I think I would want to see the detail because ultimately these are conversations between the British government and the European Union," the North Belfast MP said.
“It is not within the secretary of state’s gift as to what he does with the protocol – it is an agreement his government entered into with the European Union.”
SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole said unilateral changes to an international treaty could "not be made at Brandon Lewis's behest".
"If the UK government is finally getting serious about finding practical solutions with the EU to smooth the movement of goods from GB to NI, that is progress," the South Belfast representative said.
"But if they are simply making irresponsible promises, that does no one any good."
