Q Radio News/ PA
Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said, if the Northern Ireland Protocol was the obstacle to a functioning executive at Stormont, then it needed to be dealt with.
He said: “We need to get the executive up and running again so we can start providing for the people of Northern Ireland who are suffering under a cost-of-living crisis.
“If the obstacle to doing that is the protocol then we need to deal with the protocol.
“We all know what the landing zone is, no checks on goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland if they are staying in Northern Ireland. That gets rid of the border down the Irish Sea.
“The EU Commission know this, the UK Government know this and all five political parties who would form the executive know this also.
“So we need to get on and get it done. Once we have dealt with it then it should leave the path open to an executive to be formed.”
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