Unionists must keep their focus during Tory leadership contest

A letter from Kirk McDowell:

As the Tory leadership contest gets under way, unionists will be taking time to consider the ‘bona fides’ of each of the candidates.

Naturally these candidates will be assessed against their pro-Union credentials, and most importantly, their position on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

However, unionists must keep their focus on what is within their control and not on what isn’t. Unionist opinion will have no real influence in the selection of the new Tory leader. But regardless of who the new Prime Minister is, the twin issues of the NI Protocol and the restoration of power-sharing will be high in their inbox.

It is the responsibility of the DUP to make sure that remains the case.

Unionists must not allow themselves to be seduced by any candidate who waves the Union Flag or makes speeches about their “passion for the Union”. Nothing short of the complete dismantling of the Protocol should be sufficient to win DUP support at Westminster.

The current legislation going through Parliament may prove itself to be a stepping stone in achieving that purpose, but it is far from the end goal in itself.

The DUP must also not fall into the trap of pandering to the new Tory leader purely in a bid to keep Labour out of power. The friendships that many in the British Left have with the republican movement are distasteful. However, previous Labour governments have shown they are not necessarily any more hostile in practice to unionist interests than the Tories when in power.

It should be remembered that not one Conservative MP voted against the legislation which brought the Protocol into existence in October 2019. Indeed at that point Labour was proposing a more “unionist friendly” alternative, by seeking to keep the whole UK in the EU Customs Union. Look also how the Tories have handled Irish language legislation.

The DUP/TUV must now remain steadfast in their shared position that the Government has a stark choice. Either, they can maintain the NI Protocol or they can save the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

To prove their commitment to this position both parties should now call for the imposition of direct rule ministers, to replace the thoroughly undemocratic system of caretaker ministers.

This will allow for important matters of government to be dealt with, whilst also demonstrating the Assembly is on borrowed time.

Kirk McDowell

Belfast

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