London should give moral support to DUP’s north-south policy

Orders are being sought compelling attendance at the cross-border gatherings.

And counsel for the businessman taking the case raised the possibility of whether ministers should be personally liable for costs if they maintain an unlawful course of action.

This case is ongoing and we would not seek to influence its outcome. The law will take its course.

But there are two wider issues that can, and should, be talked about in general terms now.

The first is the DUP approach to north-south.

It is entirely justified. The party’s previous stance was confusing with regard to north-south but it has made the right call in toughening its position.

East-west connections have been trashed. A trade barrier so major has been put in the Irish Sea that the UK itself is trying to overhaul the protocol it agreed. London is rightly pointing out that this was agreed while its hand was tied by parliament. Let us hope that it maintains this tough stance.

The other wider issue that deserves examination is legal costs in Northern Ireland. To a remarkable extent, government actions in the province are challenged in the courts, at great expense, often funded by legal aid.

This Conservative government had said that it wanted to curb the ability of the courts to constrain elected governments, as well it should.

So here are two issues on which the government could do what it says it wants to do.

First, give whatever moral support it can to the DUP in the party’s attempt, via a north-south boycott, to respond to the damage to the 1998 Belfast Agreement, a deal which the government is citing in its efforts to reform the protocol.

Second, to pay particular attention to the wider matter of use of judicial review in NI, and its immense cost.