Letters: PM’s bid to reform NI Protocol is at an end – the Tory wets are in charge

The immediate impact of Kwasi Kwarteng being replaced by Jeremy Hunt is the end of any change in economic direction for the Conservative Party. Ms Truss’s tilt against the anti-growth coalition is over. It is also the end of any prospect of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill delivering for Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister is without political capital. Her survival in office until the next general election is firmly in doubt. If she survives, it would be as a stooge of Tory wets. One way or another, Jeremy Hunt and his ilk will be calling the shots. These wets care little for Northern Ireland and they are Europhiles. They will certainly not risk offending the EU for the protection of our national integrity.

Her attempt to reform the Protocol is at an end. Liz Truss’s NIP Bill, even if it passes Parliament, will not be followed by the reams of legislation required to give it effect. That was always the danger of the Bill – it is, at best, merely a framework and requires long-term political commitment. There is no such thing in the Tory Party.

Unionists have a mountain to climb to defeat the Protocol.

But, before that battle continues, there is now bound to be another election for Stormont. This, as Chris Heaton-Harris seems delighted to warn, will be called later this month or soon thereafter.

Unionists must unite for the for the sake of their cause. There cannot be multiple unionist parties competing with each other in the election. Their inability to deliver a coherent message undermines their admirable political aim. What the electorate see is disorganisation and factionalism. So the electorate itself fractures between the parties. If you need evidence, look at the results of the last election.

The leaders of the various unionist parties need to set aside their policy differences and come together, ideally permanently, but at least until the election is over. A failure to do so is bound to promote nationalism and the unification of Ireland. Unionist parties would have aided the defeat of unionism.

If Northern Ireland is yanked out of the United Kingdom by the Protocol, Westminster and the Conservative and Unionist Party would be to blame. And, unless they unite, so would be fractured unionism.

Ben Habib

Former Brexit Party MEP