Letter: Seven reasons why Stormont cannot return while the Northern Ireland Protocol remains in place

A letter from TUV leader Jim Allister:
The Assembly Chamber at Parliament Buildings. ‘Rigorous implementers’ of the NI Protocol are in the majority at Stormont and therefore a return of the powersharing executive would 'inevitably be an aid, not an obstacle, to protocol rule', writes Jim AllisterThe Assembly Chamber at Parliament Buildings. ‘Rigorous implementers’ of the NI Protocol are in the majority at Stormont and therefore a return of the powersharing executive would 'inevitably be an aid, not an obstacle, to protocol rule', writes Jim Allister
The Assembly Chamber at Parliament Buildings. ‘Rigorous implementers’ of the NI Protocol are in the majority at Stormont and therefore a return of the powersharing executive would 'inevitably be an aid, not an obstacle, to protocol rule', writes Jim Allister
By Letters
Published 16th Sep 2023, 00:01 BST

At a meeting during the week in Antrim of the central council of TUV, I laid out seven reasons why Stormont must not return so long as the Northern Ireland Protocol remains.

1) The Assembly would have to implement foreign laws it didn’t make and can’t change. It would be a slave of EU colonial rule.

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2) It would have to operate with the Irish Sea border, partitioning the United Kingdom and aligning NI economically with the Republic.

3) It could not make or secure any changes to the protocol; any such proposal would be blocked by the Sinn Fein veto.

4) Once Stormont operates the protocol it will never change, but its suspension of Art 6 of the Acts of Union would have the boost of unionist assent.

5) To operate Stormont under the protocol is to accept that never again will NI be a full part of the UK, but rather is part of an evolving all-Ireland.

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6) It is no coincidence that the loudest voices demanding the return of Stormont are those whose mission, like their IRA before them, is to fully detach us from the UK.

7) Now that the “rigorous implementers” hold the majority in Stormont, it would inevitably be an aid, not an obstacle, to protocol rule.

Jim Allister MLA, TUV leader

Related topics:Jim AllisterNorthern Ireland ProtocolAntrimUnited KingdomSinn Fein