Jim Allister: DUP has the means to thwart this shocking meddling by Westminster

Amendments relating to the right to life of unborn children and the redefinition of marriage were clearly outside the scope of the bill and should never have been accepted.

Once they were, they should have resulted in the government pulling the legislation. The fact this did not happen raises serious questions for the DUP.

Make no mistake, the DUP has the means to thwart this meddling by making the status quo of devolved control of these issues the cost of the new confidence and supply arrangements which require to be negotiated with the new prime minister.

If it does so, then it will dispel any suspicion that there is mutual advantage across the power-seeking Stormont parties to have these issues removed from the mix.

The bill has been abused again to frustrate Brexit. The fake outrage of those who never accepted the result of the referendum to leave the EU at the suggestion that Parliament could be suspended to get on with the job is nonsensical. They claim that they want to preserve democracy when in actual fact what they want to do it frustrate democracy.

The fact that the bill has been manipulated in this fashion is a scandal.

Jim Allister, MLA, TUV leader