Unionists put politics aside to sign the DUP petition on the Irish Sea border. Now that party needs to explain the way forward

A letter from Samuel Morrison:
By Samuel Morrison
Published 11th Feb 2021, 09:10 BST
Updated 11th Feb 2021, 12:35 BST
Boris Johnson and Arlene Foster at Stormont on its return, in January 2020. Mrs Foster and her party are fiercely criticising his Irish Sea border yet as recently as last month she described it as a "gateway of opportunity". A DUP minister's department built it, the DUP voted to ban British soil from NI, and the DUP in 2019 agreed to a regulatory borderBoris Johnson and Arlene Foster at Stormont on its return, in January 2020. Mrs Foster and her party are fiercely criticising his Irish Sea border yet as recently as last month she described it as a "gateway of opportunity". A DUP minister's department built it, the DUP voted to ban British soil from NI, and the DUP in 2019 agreed to a regulatory border
Boris Johnson and Arlene Foster at Stormont on its return, in January 2020. Mrs Foster and her party are fiercely criticising his Irish Sea border yet as recently as last month she described it as a "gateway of opportunity". A DUP minister's department built it, the DUP voted to ban British soil from NI, and the DUP in 2019 agreed to a regulatory border

Now that the DUP have secured their 100,00 signatures (see Carla Lockhart letter below) there is an onus on them to spell out where we now sit in terms of their Five Point Plan.

The public have done their part.

Other unionists have put party politics aside and promoted a petition which they weren’t consulted about or even asked to promote.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

What’s next?

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I’ve no idea what the lead unionist party means when it says North/South relations will be “impacted”.

It would appear that doesn’t mean the North/South arrangements set up under the Belfast Agreement will cease as there was a meeting of one of them last week — made possible by the attendance of a DUP member of the executive, Gary Middleton.

There’s been no commitment to cease operating the checks at the ports, conducted by a DUP controlled department.

In fact, the suspended checks have resumed — something which could only happen because Minister Lyons agreed to it.

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Furthermore, isn’t it reasonable to ask what the DUP have done to date?

Why did a DUP minister build the border?

Why did the DUP voted to ban British soil from Northern Ireland?

Why did Mrs Foster described these arrangements as “a gateway of opportunity” as recently as last month?

Why did the DUP agree to a regulatory border in the Irish Sea?

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Why did the DUP sign a joint letter with Martin McGuinness asking for Northern Ireland to be treated differently from the rest of the UK in the Brexit deal?

Isn’t it reasonable to point out that this guided the Northern Ireland Civil Service input to the Brexit process during the suspension of Stormont?

Samuel Morrison, Traditional Unionist, Dromore, Co Down

Carla Lockhart: The speed and scale of support for the petition shows the anger at the NI Protocol

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Related topics:DUPUnionistsIrish SeaGary MiddletonNorthern IrelandCarla Lockhart