Editorial: As 2025 dawns, Unionism is more united on its key challenge than a year ago

​As the New Year begins, politics in Northern Ireland is in a very different place than it was as 2024 got under way.

At the beginning of last year, there was no functioning Assembly or Executive – and unionist parties were at each others throats over the seemingly inevitable return of powersharing.

Jim Allister was accusing the DUP and its former leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of a looming sell-out on the Union – a sell out he said was confirmed by the Safeguarding the Union deal which restored Stormont.

The DUP leader was accusing Mr Allister of being yesterday’s man, and having delivered nothing to restore Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.

A year on, Mr Allister’s assessment that the deal did not remove the Irish Sea border is now DUP policy under Gavin Robinson. As a result of the DUP’s shift, unionism is largely united on what the Protocol has done to Northern Ireland’s constitutional position – and what to do about it. The TUV leader has led the charge on the issue at Westminster, having achieved the once unthinkable and unseating Ian Paisley in the party’s North Antrim heartland in the general election.

This year, the Irish Sea border is set to harden even further – with delayed enforcement of new rules on parcels coming into effect in March. Combined with the disruption caused by GSPR rules at the end of 2024, many consumers and businesses are going to feel the impact of the protocol like never before.

​Stormont’s return has broadened the political agenda, but the issue which dominated politics at the start of 2024 has not gone anywhere. With unionists united and the border hardening, it may be the year Alliance has to start explaining why it still unquestioningly backs a policy which limits choice and frustrates business for its own voters.