Letter: It is time for unionists to withdraw completely from Stormont and seek return of direct rule

As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, unionists opposed to the NI Protocol should use the occasion to review not just their political strategy, but more fundamentally, their beliefs regarding devolution as a concept. As the Windsor Framework continues to pass through Westminster, it is clear that withholding the formation of the NI Executive has now generated as much political leverage for unionism, as that tactic on its own was ever going to achieve. The time has now come for unionist MLAs to completely withdraw from the Assembly and seek the restoration of direct rule.

Such an act will reinforce the message that the NI Protocol in any form is terminal for the historic GFA, and nothing short of its removal can undo the damage. The collapse of the assembly will also take a heavy toll on the Pro-protocol parties such as Alliance, the SDLP and People Before Profit, who depend on devolution for finance and profile. Some unionists might say that to collapse devolution over the protocol would seem counter-productive. They fear giving more power to the Conservative government who created it. They also fear that direct rule would result in a greater role for Dublin. The reality is the protocol has already created a form of joint authority between the UK/EU. Furthermore, devolution has never stopped Irish government ministers brazenly commenting on NI’s internal matters, nor visiting the province in a manner which implies joint sovereignty already exists.

Maintaining devolution has also been unable to provide unionism with any veto over any unwanted inference from Westminster. This has been proven on numerous issues in recent years such as the positions the Tory government has taken on the Irish language and legacy structures. Others still fear that if unionism abandons devolution then the terms of the GFA may be changed to allow a possible Sinn Fein/Alliance coalition over their heads. Even if Westminster was reckless enough to agree to this, the potentially catastrophic consequences for community relations would make this unsustainable. As long as the protocol remains, devolution serves no other purpose than to administer NI’s gradual absorption into an all-Ireland region of the EU. Unionism will reap no rewards by deluding themselves into seeing imaginary benefits. Nor is there any gains to be had in restoring the Executive purely out of a fear that direct rule may be worse.

Kirk McDowell Bsc, Belfast BT5