Diane Dodds (NI). – Madam President, this morning we have heard of the European Union’s desire for a close partnership with the UK post—Brexit. Yet there is no spirit of conciliation and compromise, and nowhere is this more evident than in the draft legal text on Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland which this resolution supports. This is aggressive interference in the internal affairs of the United Kingdom. It would be disastrous for Northern Ireland economically. It violates the principle of consent – a core principle of the Belfast Agreement – and it goes well beyond the Belfast Agreement in its north-south proposals. In fact it is a text that no British Prime Minister could agree to. It has achieved the seemingly impossible of uniting the British Parliament against it. Last week my party told Mr Barnier that we wanted practical solutions on the border. These proposals are a very far step away from it.