DUP Leader Arlene Foster has thanked all those across the United Kingdom who have signed the Parliamentary e-petition and has urged people to keep signing.
The Petition was launched at 10am on Thursday morning and in just over 24hrs hit the threshold to require a Parliamentary response.
Mrs Foster said,
“As one part of our five-point plan to scrap the Protocol, I applied for and secured a Parliamentary e-petition. It is a symptom of the concern, that in just over 24hrs 100k people across every constituency in the United Kingdom have called on Parliament to trigger Article 16 and deliver unfettered GB-NI trade.
“Whilst we have reached the 100k trigger, I encourage people throughout Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom to keep signing and keep registering your support for our campaign to free us from the Protocol. The campaign has not finished. We need to keep going.
“We have made the case to the Prime Minister and now the people have made a very public appeal to the Government of their country to act. This is not the time for more words and drawn-out processes. This time for affirmative action to ensure that there is an unfettered flow of goods within the United Kingdom single market.
“This e-petition is also a demonstration to those Protocol loyalists who believe it is written on tablets of stone, that they must face reality and accept the Protocol is flawed and must be replaced.
“Thank you to people from all backgrounds across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who have taken time to add their weight to this campaign. In particular, I commend unionist colleagues from across the spectrum in Northern Ireland who embraced this initiative.”
