Editorial: The DUP should lead unionist opinion on such a key matter as the Northern Ireland Protocol deal, not just consult on it

The DUP has set up a panel of eight to consult on the Windsor Framework. ​Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP says the group (“members of our party as well as independent thinkers”) will “undertake a wide consultation” in the province. The make-up includes two ex leaders, Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster, the latter of whom quit the DUP and was scathing about it after almost all her MLAs turned on her (and she initially spoke of the opportunities of the protocol).

Mr Robinson has already said not to let perfection be the enemy of a good deal. That implies that resisting NI being under EU law is seeking “perfection”. The panel includes a businessman who is outspokenly pro EU and has backed all bids to avoid Brexit in NI, starting with Theresa May’s backstop, all of which had as their principle goal avoiding an Irish land border. It is extraordinary that a party that almost entirely supported Brexit puts such a businessman on its panel, not Peter Summerton, the haulier who is alarmed at this deal (see link below).

The panel includes two MLAs who are not senior in the party, and have no track record of speaking out on the Irish Sea border. It includes a lawyer, John McBurney, who is admired and liked but who (naturally, given his job) is not known to take a political approach to things. It does not include any of the DUP sceptics of the continuing dominance of EU law, which the party overall recently said it opposed.

Perhaps this panel will have little influence, but why announce it to a fanfare if so? And why consult so widely when many people find the protocol hard to understand? Should the party not lead opinion, for example sharing with the public the legal opinions it has been getting on the deal? Mr Robinson also said that the party should not let fear of isolation lead them to accept a bad deal.

The DUP has left itself open to suspicions that it is steering the party towards a form of acceptance of the deal while not being upfront about that plan.

Peter Summerton: Protocol deal could make things worse by leading to fewer checks but more documentation