Northern Ireland's DUP calls EU's Sefcovic 'belligerent'

A lawmaker for Northern Ireland's largest pro-British party on Friday described as "belligerent", "mistaken" and "foolish", comments by a senior European Union official rejecting British calls for a post-Brexit trade agreement to be renegotiated. "This is not just a unionist problem.

A lawmaker for Northern Ireland's largest pro-British party on Friday described as "belligerent", "mistaken" and "foolish", comments by a senior European Union official rejecting British calls for a post-Brexit trade agreement to be renegotiated. European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, who oversees post-Brexit EU relations with Britain, said in a speech that renegotiating the deal governing the trading position of Northern Ireland would only lead to instability and uncertainty.

"For an EU Vice-President to dismiss our warnings as 'rhetoric' is belligerent," said Gavin Robinson a member of the British parliament in a statement released by the DUP. "This is not just a unionist problem. To describe it as such is to be mistaken and foolish."