Former Secretary of State Julian Smith questions if Tory MPs are using the North of Ireland 'for other agendas' in Protocol row

Some Conservative Party MPs are using the North of Ireland "for other agendas" according to the former Secretary of State Julian Smith. 

     Launch: Irish Foreign Affairs Minister       Simon Coveney and Secretary of state       for *orthern Ireland Julian Smith unveil        the New Decade, New Approach deal                           at Stormont. 

                    May 12th, 2022. 

In an interview with Politics Home’s podcast The Rundown, Smith suggested there was a "question" over how committed some MPs are to the North of Ireland. 

"My priority as somebody that really wants to stand up for the North of Ireland is to make sure as we go through the coming weeks that the north's priorities and requirements are front and centre, and not being used as a vehicle for other people's priorities," he said. 

Mr Smith served as *orthern Ireland Secretary between 2019 and 2020, helping to broker the Stormont House Agreement which restored power sharing to the Assembly. 

He was later sacked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson after 204 days in the role. 

It comes as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the NI Protocol has become a "real problem" and must be "fixed". 

The UK and the European Union have come to fresh blows over the Brexit treaty after reports emerged that the Foreign Secretary is drawing up emergency legislation to suspend elements of the Protocol. 

Boris Johnson, who negotiated the protocol when taking Britain out of the EU, would not be drawn on whether the wording of the divorce pact needed to be changed when questioned on Thursday. 

He argued that without changes to the treaty, which is designed to prevent a hard border in Ireland, a new executive in the North of Ireland could not be formed as per the rules set out in the 1998 peace agreement. 

Mr Smith urged the EU to "shift" its negotiation position in a bid to persuade the DUP to take part in the Stormont institutions. 

"The message I'm trying to communicate to EU interlocutors is: you might not want to shift for the ERG [European Research Group of backbench Conservative MPs], but do listen to *orthern Ireland and political unionism on what it needs to give them," he added. 

With many thanks to the: Belfast Telegraph and Christopher Leebody for the original publication.

Follow this link to find out more on this story: DUP the (un)Democratic Unionist Party threatens to shut down NI Assembly too amid Brexit Sea Border row

NIESR have poured cold water on claims made by the Conservative and Unionist Party that the NI Protocol is damaging trade with the UK.

Jamie Bryson has said power-sharing in NI is finished for a long time to come

Former Secretary of State Julian Smith questions if Tory MPs are using the North of Ireland 'for other agendas' in Protocol row