Jim Allister: Now is a time for unionism to hold its nerve

There should be no question of any unionist returning to serve in a government which necessitates implementing a Protocol that operates on the basis that Great Britain is a foreign country. That was the very clear message on the doorsteps from unionists at the last election.

Minister Burns knows that the Government only moved on the Protocol at all because of the pressure created by unionists refusing to go back into Government.

Stormont or Protocol, that is the choice!

It would be the height of folly for any unionist to back down on that policy before they know how the Protocol Bill will emerge from the Parliamentary process and how far the Government will go in terms of using this enabling legislation. It is the cold print of the subsequent regulations which will really matter. It is not for unionists to jump first.

Indeed, how do any of us know if HMG is just using the Protocol Bill to induce fresh negotiations with the EU in which they would settle well short of unionist demands?

Unionists have been double-crossed too often to blindly trust this or any Government. Hence, it would be folly - equivalent to building the ‘Poots Posts’ - to succumb to self-serving pressure.

To surrender the leverage they have by re-engaging with the Stormont institutions would be disastrous for unionism. Now is a time for unionism to hold its nerve and not be bought off by the promise of some jam tomorrow.

If Minister Burns wants to sort the Protocol issues, then re-establishing British sovereignty over Northern Ireland is key. GB is not a foreign country. We must not be part of a foreign single market, under a foreign customs code and VAT regime, subject to foreign laws we don’t make and can’t change. In short, the EU’s ill-gotten sovereignty over this part of the United Kingdom must be ended. No ifs, no buts.

It would seem that far from embarking on such a mission, Minister Burns talks foolishly about getting to a point where the Protocol is “working for everybody in Northern Ireland” and where it “commands a greater consent”.

That should set the alarm bells ringing. We must unitedly demand that the Protocol is scrapped and the Act of Union is fully restored. Spin cannot obscure the constitutional reality that the Protocol is dismantling the Union.

l Jim Allister is the leader of the TUV.