Many Alliance voters do not support NI Protocol

I would like to highlight two bogus claims being bandied daily by political spokespersons from Brussels and Dublin, as well as by nationalist and Alliance Party politicians.

The first bogus claim is that the EU has been flexible and generous in negotiations and concessions and that the UK walked away from talks. The truth is that the UK negotiated for 18 months and was met with refusal to agree reasonable and practicable terms. It appears the EU negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, did not and does not have the necessary authority, thus making deadlock inevitable and negotiations pointless.

The second bogus claim coming from the same sources is that the majority of people in Northern Ireland support the protocol. This may be true of a majority of nationalists but I have met with Alliance voters who did not realise their vote would be used to prop up a largely unchanged protocol and are not happy about it.

A University of Liverpool poll in April found that 60% of people of all persuasions in Northern Ireland who expressed an opinion on the constitutional question were in favour of remaining part of the United Kingdom.

The Life and Times survey the following month found that 62% of respondents who expressed a preference believe that the long-term policy should be for Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK.

Of course, nationalists are delighted to have a border in the Irish Sea. But by no means are all Alliance voters nationalist. As a former Alliance voter myself, I am disappointed at their lack of consideration for the Union and the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement. But can they at least cease to claim that every Alliance vote was, as they imply, a vote for the protocol.

Mr FB Lowry, Belfast BT4