Sinn Féin National Chairperson Declan Kearney MLA today described the British Tory government’s so-called ‘Brexit Freedoms Bill’ as stunt politics designed to mask the disaster Brexit has truly been.

Declan Kearney said:

“The British government is targeting retained EU law simply for the sake of appearances and are more interested in optics than recognising the disaster that Brexit has truly been.

“An example of this can be seen in their recently published ‘Benefits of Brexit’ report. We are once again promised replacement EU funding, but we have been waiting for detail on this for years.

“Over 1,300 jobs in the voluntary and community sectors are at risk because this funding is not forthcoming, and the Department for the Economy faces a £40m cut to core services annually.

“As is so often the case with the Tories, the bluster and grandstanding only serve to cover up broken promises.

“EU law still applies here in the north since thankfully we’ve continued access to the EU single market as a result of the protocol. 

“Talks continue between the British Government and EU in the Joint Committee which meets on 21 February.

“We hope progress can be achieved within the framework of the protocol to make it work better and give businesses, manufacturers and exporters the certainty and stability they need.”

And the Sinn Féin Brexit spokesperson continued: 

“It is disappointing but not surprising to see the British government once again engaging in stunt politics around the supposed ‘Brexit Freedoms Bill’.

“To be clear, there will be no freedoms in this Bill, rather the opposite will be the case as the Tories continue to centralise power at the expense of the devolved administrations.”