DUP boycott cancels two more North-South meetings

A further two North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) meetings are expected to be cancelled on Friday after the Democratic Unionist Party did not sign them off.

The DUP is boycotting due to their disagreement with the Northern Ireland Protocol.

A High Court judge said the ongoing boycott was illegal, earlier this week.

Yesterday DUP ministers attended a council meeting on health.

The meetings scheduled for today concerned the environment, aquaculture and the marine.

The Protocol was implemented to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the wake of Brexit by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods, however many unionists argue that the deal undermines the region’s position in the UK by installing a barrier to trade with Great Britain.