The government clearly doesn’t take seriously the DUP threats on the Northern Ireland Protocol

Sir Jeffery Donaldson’s new deadline for action on the Northern Ireland Protocol - “very early in the New Year” - simply underscores the weakness of his leadership of unionism to date.

Why would anyone take this seriously given that his deadline of action by the end of October passed without action?

Making a political threat and then failing to follow it through means that the latest warning will be dismissed by Westminster and the EU.

Meanwhile a DUP Agriculture Minister continues to provide the staff which man the Poots’ Posts which partition the UK.

There should be no question of any unionist agreeing to such action for an hour never mind permitting the situation to run into a second year.

The time for treats and warnings is long over.

The time for action was long ago.

The rationale for the protocol is that it is necessary to preserve the Belfast Agreement.

If unionists were ever going to be taken seriously in terms of their opposition to the protocol they should have forced the government to choose between the institutions of the Belfast Agreement and the protocol.

The government clearly doesn’t take the DUP threats seriously. The DUP need to remember that the unionist electorate have a similar view of their threats and are increasingly of a mind to replace them with Unionists who will say what they mean and mean what they say when it comes to the sea border.

Norman Boyd, TUV East Antrim candidate

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