As the king was showing that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, the government was arguing in court that it isn’t

This week with the king’s visit we have been reminded that Northern Ireland is an integral part of the UK.

It is shocking to see the UK government arguing in court that Great Britain is a foreign country for Northern Ireland as regards the movement of goods.

In Belfast High Court, pictured, this week barrister Tony McGleenan for the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs argued it was necessary apply the “wider legal framework” of the Withdrawal Agreement and the protocol as regards checks on goods essentially arguing that references to the territory of the EU should be read as including NI in the context of trade from GB.

This doesn’t bode will for the intentions of the new prime minister Liz Truss and the European Research Group (ERG) MPs who are now NIO ministers, Chris Heaton-Harris and Steve Baker, to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol with regards to restoring the Act of Union and the UK internal market.

I would point out that the prime minister has twice said that any deal on the protocol must achieve the same outcome as the Northern Ireland protocol bill.

We must reiterate that over and over to the government.

Alan Day, Coagh, Cookstown, Co Tyrone