Editorial: DUP should avoid implausible claims about the Stormont deal

One of the most fraught political periods in the history of Northern Ireland is coming to a head.

​A deeply divided Democratic Unionist Party is trying to decide whether or not to accept a deal from the government aimed at securing a return to Stormont.

This is a massively difficult moment for the party, and indeed for unionism.

It is important, though, to recognise the particular pressures that have been put on the DUP, a party that is the subject of endless goading and sneering since it was left with little option but to suspend powersharing. After all, a Conservative and Unionist Party that has been such a disappointment to unionists since it took power in 2010 did not say one critical word when Sinn Fein, a party that wants NI to fail, was allowed to keep Stormont down for three years until it got its non negotiable demand of an Irish language act.

Unionist concerns now are on a much more serious constitutional matter of an internal trade barrier within the UK. The DUP had, after all, been assured by Boris Johnson when he came to their conference in late 2018 that no British prime minister could accept such a border. But a PM did just that – Mr Johnson himself indeed.

The DUP action has helped to get recognition, including from the EU itself, that “rigorous implementation” of the Irish Sea border would have been ruinous. This led to the Windsor Framework, which while better than such implementation, was nowhere near the overhaul of the protocol that London had once promised.

Now we need some clarity on the deal, and the News Letter will be happy to report on the details.

The DUP has a lot to think about, but it is best if that implausible claims about the framework and deal are not made. There are pragmatic arguments for Stormont, and principled arguments against. But the border is, for sure, a bad thing.