Pressure on DUP to reject Windsor Framework as it denies split on deal

​Mr Paisley, who has been critical of the framework along with fellow MPs Sammy Wilson, Jim Shannon and Paul Girvin, told the News Letter: “There is no split at all. We are each entitled to opinions – not robots!”

A DUP source said that reading into the fact some members at Westminster have spoken out about the deal while those closer to home have stayed silent did not constitute a split.

TUV leader Jim Allister said there appeared to be “some divergence of opinion” in the DUP.

He added that anyone who signed the unionist leaders’ Ulster Day Declaration 2021 could not be satisfied with the “Windsor whitewash” adding that he couldn’t understand the delay in the DUP recognising the deal was not in the interests of unionism.

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, whose Centre for the Union has been advised by former attorney general for Northern Ireland John Larkin KC that the Windsor Framework is not compatible with the Acts of Union, said: “I think it is important that the unity of the unionist family is preserved and I would hope the DUP will very soon come out decisively against the Windsor Framework, given that it plainly fails to address the fundamental constitutional issues.”

David Campbell, chairman of the Loyalist Communities Council, said the deal fails to “deal with the sovereignty and consent issues which go to the heart of unionist rejection of the Protocol".

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has suggested he may not vote for Rishi Sunak's new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland , criticising it as “not about the UK taking back control”.

Mr Sunak himself has been called to face questions from a cross-party committee of MPs on the deal announced on Monday.

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