Letter: ​DUP faces a difficult choice on the Irish Sea border issue as General Election looms

There is much he says with which I agree, but firstly I believe he is far too generous to the DUP leadership, and secondly, I obviously reject assertions public meetings telling people the truth about the Surrendering the Union deal are ‘toxic’ or ‘dividing unionism’. We are only saying what Sammy Wilson believes.

The core issue here is not that there is a legitimate honest disagreement over a policy position, with meritorious arguments on both sides which lead to honourable disagreement. The issue is more fundamental.

Jeffrey Donaldson has made a series of claims, including that the Irish Sea border has gone, which are either true, or they aren’t. This isn’t a matter of degree or which can be fudged; there either is an Irish Sea border, or there isn’t.

And that’s the flaw, in my view, in Sammy Wilson’s argument. What will the DUP policy position be in any general election? That there is an Irish Sea border which must be removed, or that the DUP secured a deal which, as Sir Jeffrey and Gavin Robinson claim, has already removed the Irish Sea border and restored Northern Ireland’s place in the Union?

If it is the former, then Jeffrey Donaldson’s credibility is shot to pieces. It would be an admission that the DUP misled the unionist community with the claims they made around their deal.

If it is the latter, then how can those like Sammy, who know the Irish Sea border remains, put their name to a manifesto and policy position which says the opposite?

That is why I don’t share the misguided analysis of those who think Jeffrey Donaldson has ‘won’ and it is all sunshine and rainbows.

If by winning they mean restoring Stormont at any price, he has certainly achieved that.

Unionism’s leverage has been surrendered by Jeffrey, which, for many of us, is unforgivable. So yes, true it is that it’s unlikely we can now get back the leverage he has given away on unionism, but that doesn’t mean that the fight against the Irish Sea border is over.

The DUP internally faces a difficult choice with an election looming. Are they going to stand over their tall tales about the Irish Sea border having been removed, or are they going to repudiate them?

If, like me, you fundamentally believe the deal has been mis-sold (which is the most benign term I can use), then it follows that the DUP leadership have put trouble in post for themselves.

Those like Jim Allister and I are never going to let this go. Do they think we are going to let up or stop repeating the DUP leadership’s claims back to them day after day?

In an election, they have to face up to those issues and bear the political cost.

Finally, on the second issue, I say simply this: it was not me or Jim Allister who changed. It is not us who accepted an Irish Sea border whilst telling people the opposite.

We have done nothing but remain consistent, and tell the truth.

The source of division is those who promised one thing, but then did another.

Jamie Bryson, NI director of policy, Centre for the Union