DUP Lies Won't let Protocol facts get in way of Brexit devotion

    CLEAR BENEFITS DON'T SUIT OLD                               AGENDA

CLAIMS that the Protocol is forcing up the cost of living are wholly untrue. Don't take my word for it.

                   June 26th, 2022.

Independent verifier FactCheckNI - an organisation that has no political links - has binned claims by Jeffrey Donaldson MP, the likes of Ian (Óg) Paisley and even Orange Order chief Mervyn Gibson that the Brexit Sea Border has driven up costs.

It is the ongoing lie that was the Brexit campaign. Based on fabricated figures and falsehood, we were dragged out of the EU on a fake manifesto. But what's done is done, were out - but that does not justify a second campaign of lies that will damage our economy on the cause of Jeffrey and co wrapping themselves in the Union Flag. If anything, our friends in Britain are worse off than we are.

Claims by the DUP leader that consumers here pay on average four per cent more per item in the supermarket than in the rest of the UK is simply wrong. Grocery bills over there are eight per cent higher than here. FactCheckNI ridiculed Paisley for his claim that the Protocol has resulted in a rise of 27 per cent in across the board costs.

                       BLINKERED 

His comments, they said, were "a bit of a mess", before going on to state the DUP is guilty of cherry picking facts to suit a narrative. In other words, forcing a square peg into a round hole. 

It is misinformation and dangerously brazen. Paisley, Donaldson and Gibson are not stupid people but they are blinkered, serving a narrow agenda with a raft of false truths. The agri-food sector has hailed the Protocol as a success and pharmaceutical companies have joined the chorus. It seems to me the only ones calling for its abolition are those who have a single agenda. 

And it's an agenda that will not deliver anything positive. To be clear, no-body's Britishness has been diminished by the Protocol. 

For the record a think-tank from revered seat of learning the London School of Economics has said *orthern Ireland's economy will fare better than the rest of the UK, precisely because of the Protocol which grants us access to the European Single Market. In a damning verdict on Brexit, the boffins said Britain is on course to be "poorer and less productive", while the North can expect to be more stable. 

Jeffrey and the DUP's reckless devotion to Brexit has already cost *orthern Ireland dearly, but in the wreckage of withdrawal from the EU there is a chink of light for us. You would think anyone giving a toss about this place would grasp any opportunity with both hands. 

With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Richard Sullivan for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: The impact of the Protocol upon the cost-of-living in Northern Ireland. A 🧵.

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