David McNarry: Varadkar's triumphant declaration is warning for unionism

As the News Letter's Sam McBride has emphasised, 'the text of the prime minister's Brexit statement is riven with areas which for now represent all things to all people'.
David McNarryDavid McNarry
David McNarry

He is so right to identify the crucial flaws which derive from too many cooks concocting a soup of too many ingredients.

Indeed it was ever going to be thus after the debacle of the DUP reeling back an over-eager Theresa May from the original sell-out text which pleased both Dublin and Brussels. The problem however with the cobbled-together shabby re-written script is that unionism has ended up in the danger zone of creative ambiguity.

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When Leo Varadkar triumphantly declared that the Irish had got “everything they had been asking for” this was not a welcome sign but an uncomfortable warning for unionism. Mr Varadkar’s joy does not square with Mrs May’s promised six pledges to protect the integrity of the union and make all the UK stronger.

Such obtuse sound bites expose the option of ambiguity which gave both leaders a claim for victory despite saying different things.

If, as the prime minister indicates, her intention was securing the best Brexit deal for the UK and that no deal is better than a bad deal is her bottom line, then the smug smile will be wiped off the faces in Dublin.

It stands to reason that what is good for Northern Ireland in the government’s pledges is bound to sink all republican hopes for a customs union and special status.

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You can bet that with petitions and letters flying around from the Irish caucus there will be no relenting of the abusive and in your face anti-British attacks from the gathering mob of republicans. Under such pressure unionism must stand firm and be smart in holding Mrs May to her pledges and more.

Unionism is not seeking bragging rights over Brexit, that serves no purpose and makes us look as ugly as republicans. However as negotiations travel toward transition and trade deals be prepared for all sorts of twists and turns as we reach freedom from the wasteful EU. It is the duty of the British Brexiteers to turn up the heat and push the waverers, the luvvies and the Irish out of the picture.

There will be no help from republicans and useless fence-sitters. No support from those who whittle away at scaremongering. No friendship from a battering ram Irish bloc. So take heed, if ever unionism was required to stand together it is now and until we are free to express our right to self-determination. We need no mixed messages, no back sliding, no whispers and no retreating. Just do it..