Doug Beattie: If I had delivered the speech that Jeffrey Donaldson did, I would have been labelled a Lundy

Northern Ireland politics really is a contrary place.

Had I, as the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, delivered the DUP leader’s speech on Saturday I would have been pilloried, been called a traitor, a Lundy or even a Kapo.

Yet what was said by the DUP leader occupies the very ground the Ulster Unionist Party has been on for well over 20 months.

We need to make unionism and Northern Ireland more appealing, positive, confident, and inclusive.

Only by making Northern Ireland work and making it a working part of the United Kingdom, will we secure our place in the Union.

We must use devolution to challenge the issues around the Windsor Framework while focusing on our Economy to strengthen public service.

We can make the green lane non-existent while accepting a red lane for goods that transit through Northern Ireland into the European Union.

The DUP leader’s speech even included our argument that direct rule would be bad for Northern Ireland.

It would see those who do not have the best interests of Northern Ireland and its people making the decisions.

The boycott has failed; it is now time to put the United Kingdom at the heart of what we stand for.

That means making difficult political decisions in the best interests of Northern Ireland, the union, and all our people.

There will always be those who will try to influence from the fringes, but they are not the ones carrying the responsibility.

It is important to listen to well-reasoned arguments from all quarters of society and hear their alternatives, without alternatives, opinions become pointless.

Doing the right thing is always the right thing and I will help the DUP leader in making what will be a courageous decision to restore devolved institutions.

Doug Beattie MC MLA, Ulster Unionist Party leader