All of us were very aware of the claims made by Boris Johnson prior to the EU deal that he promised to a group of businesses in Northern Ireland in a public session. The EU deal that he then negotiated was achieved and signed up for, but his earlier claims were torn up by him. His claims would only have worked if the UK was willing to stay within the EU trade deals but he prevented that from happening. The fact that he did so is not a shock to most people in the rest of the UK as many politicians and indeed some people outside of the political setting did not want us to. However the challenge for NI is that as recognised by most people who understand about peace in Ireland, they need to stay within the majority of the EU trade deals in order to ensure that the border between Eire and NI remains open and clear. Thus the only way for both the Good Friday agreement to remain and for the NI to remain a full and connected part of the rest of the UK is for us to stay in the EU trade deal. So late yesterday in this piece in the Independent newspaper these are some of the words which rather demonstrate that Johnsons claims are yet again deeply troubling. The headline is Boris Johnson made personal promise to ‘tear up’ protocol, claims DUP’s Ian Paisley and the first few words are

Boris Johnson made a personal promise to “tear up” the Northern Ireland Protocol once a Brexit deal with the EU was agreed, the senior DUP figure Ian Paisley Jr has claimed.

It follows remarks made by the prime minister’s former adviser Dominic Cummings, who said Downing Street’s plan was always to “ditch the bits we didn’t like”.

Confirming Cummings’ claim, Paisley Jr said Johnson gave him a guarantee before the 2019 general election that protocol commitments in any withdrawal deal with the EU would later be dropped.

At some stage the extent of his lies and claims that can be clearly challenged must surely make him a person who should be held to account? The fact that his Transport Department organised by Grant Shapps has prevented one of the networks for transport businesses to participate in discussions because they have positive views about remaining in the EU is deeply concerning. Many of us are still very unhappy with the way in which Brexit has gone and indeed many people who voted for us to leave are now very unhappy. For the Government to reject some businesses from their conversations is deeply concerning just as much as Johnsons lies.