Allister rejects 'counsel of despair' from Lord Godson over the NI Protocol

On Monday night Lord Godson – speaking at the annual David Brewster lecture – said the TUV didn’t have a viable strategy for unionism and that the DUP and UUP should work closely at the next election.

The TUV leader responded: “It is good to keep the memory of David Brewster alive. However, I must say that the remarks of Lord Godson as reported in this morning’s press do not sound like anything the David Brewster I knew would be saying.

“Lord Godson is correct in saying that there is little difference between the DUP and UUP. Both parties have now accepted the Protocol and sit together in a Protocol implementing Executive headed by a SF First Minister. Many who voted DUP or transferred to them have been dismayed by this. With no substantive policy difference between the parties, there is indeed little reason why they should not merge.

“However, where Lord Godson errs is in dismissing TUV. He himself admitted in January of last year that ‘the divergence between the regulation of goods in Northern Ireland and in Great Britain is likely to be greater, than anticipated when the Protocol was originally agreed.’”

“It is worth noting that not a word of the Protocol has changed since Lord Godson made those comments. NI remains under laws which no one in the UK can change. It remains in a foreign single market and customs union. Article Six of the Acts of Union remains suspended.

“These are all matters which cut to the heart of what it means to be part of the UK and would not be accepted by Lord Godson for any other part of the UK. It is also of note that he acknowledged that Lord Trimble’s “last great cause was opposing the NI Protocol, something he did “for many good reasons”.

“While Lord Godson may believe the battle is lost on the Protocol, TUV and Reform UK does not accept his counsel of despair which means operating on the basis that NI is in transition out of the UK. UUP and DUP may be prepared to proceed on that basis, but TUV and Reform UK will continue to fight for our full and proper place within the UK and will do so for the good reasons he himself acknowledges.

“Such is the only viable political strategy for anyone who holds to the fundamentals of Unionism.”