It has emerged Mr Poots wrote to the British government last year in his role as Stormont Agricultural Minister, describing a plan to dissapply an approach to farmers' subsidies resulting from the protocol as "unacceptable". The proposed change is contained in the British government's NI Protocol Bill to override the controversial arrangement that keeps the north under EU single market rules.
The ex-DUP leader had spoken to the "significant policy flexibility" the protocol offered farmers in the north, despite the party’s demands that the protocol be scrapped in order for the party to end its boycott of Stormont. The letter has led to accusations of "cherry-picking" by Mr Poots who claimed he had "reasonably suggested one change" to the British government legislation that is currently making its way through Westminster.
Sinn Féin's North Belfast MP John Finucane said: "The DUP are talking from both sides of their mouth on the protocol."
The Financial Times reported that Mr Poots, in his role as Stormont agriculture minister in July 2021, wrote to the then-UK environment secretary George Eustice to say it was "unacceptable" that farmers in the north would be forced to accept the same agricultural subsidiary regime as the rest of Britain.
Mr Poots, himself a farmer, said the letter that state aid arrangements in the protocol provided "significant policy flexibility", and said the NI Protocol Bill was "proposing to disapply the approach to subsidy control" - a move he described as "unacceptable".
This is despite the DUP expressing public support for the bill, and refusing to nominate ministers to a Stormont Executive due to the protocol.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson MP has warned that next year's 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement was likely to pass without an Executive in place unless the protocol - which was agreed by the UK and EU in the 2019 Brexit Withdrawal Agreement - was scrapped.
The UK and EU are continuing negotiations to secure changes to the protocol, but the protocol itself will remain, and the British government have been urging the DUP to return to Stormont in the meantime.
'FORMER DUP LEADER SAID FARMERS IN NI SHOULD NOT BE FORCED INTO THE REST OF UK's SUBSIDIARY REGIME'
The revelation over the letter suggesting the UK keeps part of the protocol's outworkings has led to Mr Poots defending his stance, telling the Financial Times that he "reasonably suggested one change which would maximise Britain's ability to use state aid under World Trade Organisation (WHO) rules".
He added: "If the NI Protocol Bill were to be progressed as currently drafted, that would remove the EU State Aid framework and bring NI agriculture within scope of the UK domestic subsidy control regime.
"That imposes a different set of requirements and the agricultural policy framework would need to be assessed in light of this different regime."
However, following a move by NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris to cut MLA pay in the absence of an executive earlier this month, Mr Poots said his party’s protocol stance was "not a matter of being financially insulated".
He said: "It's an issue that if we have to eat grass, then we'll eat grass. It's that important to us."
Sinn Féin has suggested Mr Poots's letter shows double standards over the protocol, and urged the party to end its "cruel boycott of the Executive" that has "punished workers and families".
North Belfast MP John Finucane said: "The DUP have blocked an executive being formed now for six months and told people that the protocol needed to be scrapped in its entirety.
"Now Edwin Poots, a so-called fierce critic of the Protocol, is lobbying to amend the Tory protocol bill to protect parts of the protocol because of its benefits for farmers.
"This is the same DUP that originally welcomed the protocol as a gateway of opportunity and then got spooked by opinion polls into railing against it. Edwin Poots himself was minister in the department implementing border control checks for over a year before trying to halt them. The DUP are talking from both sides of their mouth on the protocol."
With many thanks to the: Irish News and Paul Ainsworth (and Pa) for the original publication.
Follow this link to find out more on this story: DUP Lies Won't let Protocol facts get in way of Brexit devotion
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