Unionists should be more friendly with republicans in the north than in the south

I was struck by the reference Alex made to the endgame (‘ Unionism needs a strategy because this is the endgame,’ July 13),

and the need for unionists to develop a strategy, and by the endless appeasement of Sinn Fein highlighted by Ben (‘The appeasing of Sinn Fein will not stop, so the Ulster Unionists should now go into opposition,’ July 4) .

I also could not help but reflect on the rather robotic statement of the patently obvious by Mr Bruton, Sinn Fein does not respect the Irish constitution

(‘A Taoiseach cannot celebrate IRA violence and be loyal to the Irish constitution, which gives the state a monopoly on force,’ July 10). Clearly the party does not, yet the Irish state constantly supports many of its outrageous demands on the UK.

Mr Bruton’s words were well-meant, but I was surprised at how foreign he seemed.

A tutorial on the Irish constitution is even less appealing to me than a digest of tractor production statistics from Ukraine. Politics in Dublin is slowly drifting away from us, as is culture and public opinion there.

Is this the area in which something can be done to boost the Union, and a strategy developed to call a spade a spade? Has the Republic, perhaps, delighted us enough?

A problem with the old guard of the DUP is that they would regard someone like me as a clueless liberal, despite what I have just said.

I have form on Brexit, LGBT rights, all manner of things. But, I would refer them to a warning letter that I sent to the News Letter in 2018, when that same DUP old guard was cheering Boris Johnson to the rafters.

My next statement would attract equal derision from the deep thinkers of the DUP — we should treat Sinn Fein in the North and in the South differently. Of course, they are one and the same. But, when defending the Union, it’s perception that matters.

It’s the hearts and minds of people in the North that we need to win, not just the solid flag-waving unionist third, but the soft unionists, and people in the broad centre as well, including many nationalists.

There are no votes in the Irish Republic. There are votes that we absolutely must win in the North. That is done through consensus at home, not confrontation.

Unionism is frustrated. Alex is right, this is the endgame. I think it’s probably a 10-year endgame, with the clock ticking now.

I still maintain that Stormont should not be collapsed, nor should any unionist party go into opposition at the moment. As for Boris Johnson, he may act in the union’s interest, but only if that mirrors his own.

Some unionists are becoming desperate at all this. There is constant complaining about Sinn Fein, as well as the activities of the Irish state.

So, it’s time for less talk of friendship with the Republic, and more talk of their politicians very seriously irritating us. As for Sinn Fein politicians in the South, it’s time for open hostility with them, at a political level.

But, for our own citizens in the North, including Michelle O’Neill, we should seek consensus and cooperation. That should spook extremist republicans, north and south.

Importantly, it would help all Northern Ireland voters distinguish between their own precious home country, where we will make everyone matter, and the increasingly tiresome Republic next door, which matters rather less.

This is the best I can do. Does anyone have a better strategy ?

John Gemmell, Wem, Shropshire

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