UK governments of all colours seem to have worked out long ago that they can push around unionists in Northern Ireland, not republicans

As the reality of what a border in the Irish Sea means finally begins to dawn and the calamitous position in which Northern Ireland finds itself hits home it is easy to see this a just the latest — albeit the most significant — in a long line of Westminster betrayals of Ulster’s unionist people.

But we would do well to reflect on the role of unionism in portioning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Imagine if Boris Johnson had got up on Wednesday in the Commons and said:

“They are saying that the UK should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its national territory. I don’t believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept.”

Boris Johnson used many of those very words. Sadly though, one needs to substitute two — national territory with fishing waters.

But say he had taken a stand and refused to divide our country. Take it a step further and imagine that Caral Ni Chuilin, not Edwin Poots, was agriculture minister in such circumstances.

Do you think that Caral Ni Chuilin would allow her Department to be used to build border posts between Northern Ireland and the Republic?

I think we all know the answer to that question.

Yet Mr Poots is busy putting in place the infrastructure which will cut us off from the rest of the UK.

Perhaps part of the problem in Westminster is that governments of all colours worked out a long time ago who they could push around.

Samuel Morrison,

Traditional Unionist, Dromore, Co Down