On Thursday 12th May I travelled to Brussels to take part in the inaugural meeting of the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly with Vice President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič. This trip was part of this Government’s negotiations regarding the status of Northern Ireland following Britain’s exiting of the EU.
I always welcome the opportunity to represent this country overseas and I consider the status of Northern Ireland to be of vital significance to the integrity of the United Kingdom.
Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and defending the Belfast Good Friday Agreement whilst also upholding the promises of Brexit and our country’s national sovereignty is of critical importance.
This Government and I are committed to ensuring a friendly, open trading relationship with the EU as well as other non-member European states whilst staying true to the result of the EU referendum and retaining our country’s ability to protect our internal borders and not have a two-tiered United Kingdom.
I also discussed partnerships between the UK and EU regarding sanctions against Russia following their invasion of Ukraine and other areas of trade and cooperation.
Representing the interests of my constituents and this country abroad has always been of great importance to me, and I will to continue to do so whenever