Ulster Unionist Assembly election candidate Tom Elliott has called on the Republic's government to act on issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Speaking last week, Mr. Elliott said: "There have been monstrous political miscalculations and atrocious spin over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

"We have Brussels turning the screw as retaliation on the UK voting to leave the EU. We see Dublin playing principal cheerleader for the Irish Sea Border.

"The bottom line is that the Northern Ireland Protocol undermines UK sovereignty, and that is why Dublin and Northern Ireland Nationalist parties think it so wonderful.

"Anything that impedes the free flow of goods to our main market in Great Britain does us great harm.

"We have had months of snail's-pace negotiations between London and Brussels, with just a few trade concessions, but no firm resolution.

"The Conservative Government and its ministers stand indicted for this appalling Protocol mess, which undermines the Union we hold so dear, rather than strengthening it."

He claimed: "The Belfast Agreement has been appallingly misrepresented. All angry voices from Dublin did was further divide people on this island, and carried out gross misrepresentation by warning of a return to violence.

"Today, I call on Dublin to reverse out of the political trap it has built for itself, and instead positively engage with Unionists for the betterment of all our people."

He concluded: "If Brussels and Dublin are genuine in wanting to underpin our peace, then the best thing they can do is acknowledge the damage they have done, and tell London they are prepared to remove the Protocol and start afresh to replace it with a solution which works for everyone, and which respects UK sovereignty and the Belfast Agreement.

"For its part, the UK Government should atone for its past gross mistakes and engage directly with the EU to right the wrongs which it negotiated, when it should have been acting in the best interests of Northern Ireland."