Unionists must be ready to turn their backs on Stormont over the Protocol

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss’ assurances to come to an agreed negotiated solution with the EU fall well short of meeting the widespread unionist demand that the Protocol is removed irrevocably.

The reality is that unless the Protocol is removed, a pro-Irish, pro EU agenda will spiral out of control.

Accepting an EU-delineated Protocol compromise misjudges the mood of unionism. Any unionist representative considering ‘going soft’ on the mandated anti-Protocol stance is in for a rude awakening.

Supporters want to see unionism toughening up and being taken seriously, not taken for fools.

The Belfast Agreement could not survive the coercive force of the Protocol’s implementation. It has no in-built protection against an attack rendering the ‘consent principle’ inoperable.

The blunt message unionist leaders should jointly send to the new Prime Minister has to be: unionists will not be taking ministerial or MLA positions as from October 1, 2022.

David McNarry, Ex-UUP/UKIP MLA

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