The two governments are damaging the Good Friday Agreement, which they keep saying needs to be protected

Despite continually referring to the need to protect the Good Friday Agreement the two governments have consistently failed to exercise their role as co-guarantors by putting political unionism in an impossible position relating to an Irish Sea border.

Even if the DUP successfully rally most unionists in the next assembly election under the banner of stopping Sinn Fein topping the poll, if other unionist factions such as TUV or independent loyalists etc. are able to attract even a small number of vaguely credible candidates to stand for them, some portion of hardline DUP voters are bound to break off in protest.

Couple this with softer unionists perhaps drifting elsewhere in circumstances whereby Northern Ireland has been made a second class part of the UK and other unionists perhaps being so dejected with mainstream unionism’s inability to exercise any meaningful influence on the situation that they may not vote at all.

If these things happen on even a small scale Sinn Fein is bound to become the biggest party in the next assembly and while the tangible difference between being the first minister or deputy first minister is insignificant.

I believe the iconography of this for unionist voters which would likely be further irritated by a Sinn Fein campaign to use it to push the idea that Northern Ireland is now ready for unification, along side a growing disillusionment that five party mandatory coalitions can function effectively and above all the completely untenable position that unionist ministers of whichever party would have to implement on an ongoing basis an Irish Sea border that makes their own voters second cast citizens in the UK, is going to make devolution increasingly unattractive to unionist voters and make it impossible for political unionism of whichever shade to credibly participate in a power sharing government in the longer term.

By only protecting the republican aspects of the Good Friday Agreement relating to borders whilst ignoring unionist concerns the two governments are putting political unionism in an impossible position whilst fundamentally damaging the Good Friday Agreement and failing in their role as co-guarantors.

Mr R G McDowell, Belfast BT5

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor