Unionism lacks the politicians that we need to oppose the Northern Ireland Protocol

As a lifelong unionist I have come to the conclusion there is no area in the UK which has had such poor public representation over the past 45 years as the ordinary unionists of Northern Ireland.

There have been exceptions, such as Brian Faulkner, Harold McCusker, Bill Craig, Rev Robert Bradford and Edgar Graham.

Indeed unionist people should be rallying round the News Letter to ensure its continued existence, because I consider two of the key public figures who have convincingly articulated the unionist position for the past number of years have been a pair of leading journalists on the paper, Sam McBride and Ben Lowry.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is just the latest manoeuvre by successive British governments to betray the people who stood their ground during the Second World War and the Falklands campaign.

The unionist politicians have singularly failed to organise an effective peaceful response.

There are two simple measures which could be arranged namely:

1. Self employed individuals refuse to py Income tax half yearly on the grounds that the government has breached their social contract with their citizens and

2. Peaceful daily pickets at the Newry border to highlight the betrayal which has taken place

The protocol is similar to the Munich Agreement where capitulation was the order of the day all allegedly to have ‘peace for our time’.

We might well ask where is the present day Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who was hanged for his opposition to the Nazis, or have our churches gone silent?

There should be exposure of the policy of attempted ethnic cleansing of the unionist people over the years and now the final betrayal of them.

And where is the Knox or the Luther or the Calvin or the Wesley in our society to lead the religious revival which is needed by all in our society

Isaiah 40 verse 28: ‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth’

v 31 ‘those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength’

Lyle Cubitt, Ballymena

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