The DUP is still going to have to decide if it is going to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol

The announcement by Gordon Lyons last night that he was halting work on Irish Sea border infrastructure was almost inevitable.

The agriculture minister would otherwise have been in the absurd position of constructing a frontier that his party says is illegal.

Indeed, all of unionism now has that view. A legal action against the Northern Ireland Protocol is backed by the DUP, UUP, TUV and – it seems – a section of the Tory Party.

Earlier yesterday the leaders of the three unionist parties told Boris Johnson of their “unified and unalterable” opposition to the Irish Sea border and demanding it go.

It is a far cry from Arlene Foster’s interview with Sky News late last year and then with the BBC early this year, saying that she had to accept the new dispensation. The DUP leader even suggested it brought benefits to NI.

The halt to infrastructure work also seems to be at odds with Edwin Poots’ approach last year when he said he had been given legal advice that if he instructed his officials to refuse to do such work they may be able to disregard him.

Mr Lyons’ decision, however, is arguably of limited scope. The border can continue with temporary infrastructure, perhaps forever.

The DUP now faces a deeper question: how can it implement the protocol, and pass legislation to embed it, if it is backing a legal case that says the border is so serious it undermines the Act of Union of 1801.

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