Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party is to join legal action against a key part of the Brexit deal, its leader Arlene Foster said Sunday.
The DUP is looking to challenge the Northern Ireland protocol, which sets rules for trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
“We have considered a number of legal routes, and will be joining other unionists from across the United Kingdom in judicial review proceedings to challenge the Protocol, unless arrangements are put in place,” Foster said in a statement.
The DUP believes the Northern Ireland protocol isn’t compatible with British law because it creates trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. The U.K. and EU agreed to the arrangement to ensure that a border between Ireland and Northern Ireland isn’t needed post-Brexit, in a move aimed at preserving the Good Friday peace agreement.
Foster’s party backed Brexit, but has fiercely criticized the protocol, launching a five-point plan earlier this month vowing to oppose all measures related to it the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The DUP leader expressed hope that “other likeminded unionists from across the United Kingdom” will join her in the challenge.
“Neither the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Northern Ireland Executive nor the people of Northern Ireland consented to the Protocol being put in place or the flow of goods from [Great Britain] to [Northern Ireland] being impeded by checks,” Foster said, adding that “they certainly did not consent to the arrangements for those checks being determined by a power over which we have no democratic say.”