All unionists need to reflect on words of Lord Trimble on damage Irish Sea border has done to Belfast Agreement

‘Morning View’ on Tuesday could not have been more explicit in pointing the way for unionism to act against the NI Protocol when it said: “Unionists of all hues reject the great damage done to the Act of Union and to unfettered internal UK trade by the protocol” (‘Unionists send Tories a clear, united message against NI Protocol’, October 4, see link below).

It would be a serious error of judgement for any unionist to be done over again by fallacious Tory promises.

Let us see the unionist demands written down and cross checked with Lord Frost’s new legal proposals to negotiate with the EU. Let us see how the prime minister instructs Lord Frost to approach the EU and the Irish. But unionists must beware the trap in negotiations continuing to be on the basis of a revised treaty.

It beggars belief that any unionist (and there are some) would settle for a new treaty dressed up in the protocol’s clothes. So before any rash decisions are taken, and people fooled into believing that Lord Frost will deliver a win-win outcome, unionists must be mindful of the Brexit betrayal by the government which has put at risk the Union and unfettered trade across the UK.

Unionists cannot be betrayed again. We deserve to know: are we really contemplating a D-Day decisive move? Or is it another false dawn on the horizon punctuated by diversions ending up with the protocol remaining?

I do not trust Boris Johnson.

All unionists need to reflect on the words of Lord Trimble in highlighting the damage that the Irish Sea border has done to the Belfast Agreement.

The protocol is a fight in which we cannot capitulate in any form.

David McNarry, former UUP and Ukip MLA

Unionists send the Conservatives in Manchester a clear, united message against the Northern Ireland Protocol

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