Doug Beattie: For those advocating staying out of government, what is their plan? Protest has failed, the Windsor Framework is not going away

Those Northern Ireland politicians calling for a renegotiation, of a renegotiation, to create mutual enforcement rules and scrap the Framework are playing to the gallery. They know it is not going to happen, yet they keep shouting for it because they have nothing else.

If political representatives cannot see the present and future UK Government’s direction of travel, they really are naïve or asleep at the wheel.

There may be something else, of course, that is, by keeping the pretence going, it plays on the fears of many designed to generate votes. It saves their own skin in a Westminster election while undermining progress.

The bitter truth, and truth seems to be lacking in some quarters, is that the Windsor Framework is a compromise that the UK was forced to make based on a poorly negotiated Protocol.

Many of those politicians who complain most vigorously now helped facilitate that Protocol and, indeed, helped design the Framework.

They need to take responsibility for what they did and own up to what they are doing now.

In acknowledging the concerns around Article 6 of the Act of Union and the real risk of trade divergence, the question is, ‘What is your solution, and how does undermining the devolved government help?’

It is okay to say that you do not support the Framework but will still provide a democratically elected government working for the people. It is okay to maximise the opportunities within the Framework, such as dual market access, securing our dairy industry and giving stability to our manufacturing sector.

It is okay to say that you will use the mechanisms available to you within devolved government, to challenge the issues you cannot support within the Framework. Working to improve trade through a simpler, streamlined and less cumbersome green lane.

It is okay to say you will use the new EU scrutiny committee as a challenge tool. To prepare a case for the cessation of articles 5-10 of the Framework in a vote to be held in 2024.

If the vote is lost, then the same case can be made to the independent review that will take place after the vote if there is no cross-community support.

The Stormont Brake is complicated, yet it remains a challenge tool if applied correctly. The Brake must be tested, and in doing so, we test the resolve of the UK Government.

Those who dismiss it dismiss those unionists who helped design it while they ask for the reigns of Northern Ireland to be handed to the very people who created the Protocol.

Add to this, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is up for review in 2025. Unionists, working with others, must be in a position to add value to that review.

None of this can be done if we do not have a devolved government.

So, for those advocating stay out, what is their plan? What do they think will suddenly change the UK government’s direction of travel?

Protest has always been a part of the political discourse in Northern Ireland, but on the post-Brexit arrangements, those protests have failed. The last 18 months of boycotting the Stormont institutions has not worked and is now promoting Northern Ireland as a failed part of the UK. This is something republicans have been trying to do for years and failed, but here we have unionists now doing their work for them.

The recent commentary by Lord Bew is both insightful and correct. The Windsor Framework is imperfect, it is not the starting point unionism would have wished for.

However, the Framework is not going away; it will be implemented by the UK government regardless, with a ‘job done’ argument for their electoral base. Undoubtedly, we will hear that message at the Conservative Party Conference to rapturous applause.

Unionism must find a path to ensure we promote our vision for Northern Ireland within the UK, not because of the Windsor Framework but despite the Windsor Framework. We must recapture the essence of an argument to draw us back into that union by being a functioning part of it. This requires long-term strategic thinking, promoting our people, place, prosperity, public services and peace. We cannot be distracted by those voices of protest who only have their own self-interest at play.

Just imagine a working Northern Ireland. A prosperous place where our economy has transformed our health service, infrastructure and education. A place where we create opportunities for all, jobs and affordable housing. A Northern Ireland delivering government as close to the people as possible.

That is the vision for Northern Ireland that we should be striving for if we wish to promote and protect our place in the UK. A failed or failing Northern Ireland with no devolved government is the antithesis of that vision.

Doug Beattie is leader of the Ulster Unionist Party