stable agreement which works for all parts of the uk and i wish the uk government well in that but with the crisis in ukraine the last thing we need to be doing a thrashing around here pointlessly. domestic legislation even if passed will not wash away the need to comply with an international commitment already made and neither is it going to change the fact that if the uk is neither in or aligned with the single market in the customs union it is still going to create a trade border that needs to go some way. to restore devolved government in northern ireland and to resolve the self inflicted wounds of brexit it going to need goodwill, trust and a negotiated settlement. i m sorry to say that the threats of unilateral legislative action by this government override its own deal very unlikely to be taken seriously in belfast, they won t be taken seriously in brussels and there is no reason why they should be taken seriously in this place either. i have been very clear that we ar
open to a negotiated solution but that negotiated solution needs to deliver on the ground in northern ireland. and address the very real problems with the protocol, which the honourable gentleman acknowledges, namely the fact that the people of northern ireland cannot benefit currently from uk tax decisions, state aid decisions and the fact there is still full customs implementation on goods coming into northern ireland. in order to address those issues it s notjust the implementation of the protocol, the implementation of the protocol, the protocol itself does need to change. we need that change in the mandate from the eu. it is absolutely our preference to have a negotiated solution with the eu but we have to be clear that those changes need to happen, otherwise it s simply not going to deliver on the ground in northern ireland, it s not going to restore the balance as set out in the belfast good friday agreement and we are not going to