00:00 Sir Geoffrey, obviously you have said that there isn't an Irish sea border.
00:04 We as a newspaper said that we think that there is. Lord Dodds said that he thinks there is.
00:08 How do you explain your argument that there is no longer an Irish sea border?
00:13 Well under the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which was supported by all our DUP MPs and our peers,
00:19 there was a proposal for a green lane dealing with goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland
00:24 staying within the UK and a red lane dealing with goods going into the EU.
00:28 What I have secured and what we have achieved is to get rid of the green lane so that goods moving
00:34 from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and staying within the UK, that internal border is gone.
00:39 Those goods are no longer subject to checks and customs arrangements and I think that's an important win for Northern Ireland.
00:46 There is still the body of 300 or so EU laws that do prevail. In other words, even if the border itself
00:54 seems to be non-existent, there is that change and the point of the change is the Irish sea.
00:58 Well, where we sell our goods to the European Union, then those goods have to be made to EU standards.
01:04 But what is important and what we have secured is that where goods are coming into Northern Ireland
01:08 from Great Britain that are made to British standards, those goods are available now in our
01:13 shops and our supermarkets. We can once again buy British products in our supermarkets.
01:19 The protocol banned those products. We have removed that ban. I believe that's a good day for Northern Ireland.
01:25 Another criticism of the deal is that the Windsor Framework has, because the EU wouldn't contemplate it,
01:31 has not in fact legally been reopened. I'm talking about the framework. I'm talking about the European
01:37 Union agreeing to reopen the deal. How do you respond to that criticism?
01:40 I disagree with that criticism. The legal text that constitutes key elements of the Windsor Framework
01:47 will be changed and we've already seen the beginning of that process. The DUP has secured
01:53 and delivered real change for the benefit of everyone in Northern Ireland. We have met our
01:59 objectives, we've assessed the outcome against our seven tests and we are satisfied as a party
02:04 that this provides a basis for Northern Ireland moving forward and to restore our political institutions.
02:10 And what about this argument that you have made that, you know, you securing the gains,
02:17 you haven't got everything. Could you elaborate a little bit upon that?
02:20 Well, I believe that this deal is good for Northern Ireland. Is it perfect? No. Are there still
02:26 matters that we need to resolve? Are there still further changes that we would like to secure?
02:32 Absolutely yes. And I will be honest with people about this, but I think that the gains we have
02:37 made, the wins that we have secured for Northern Ireland, we should bank those and we should move
02:44 forward together to secure further change in the future. The DUP has shown that it can deliver
02:49 real change. When others said there'll be no renegotiation, we proved them wrong.
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