Belfast / Good Friday Agreement 25 years on: 'What is there for unionism to celebrate on upcoming anniversary?'

In the wake of a Supreme Court judgement which said the Act of Union is partly "suspended" by the Protocol, and amid renewed talk of a pending deal on the Protocol – which is rumoured to be a long way from what the DUP will accept – the trio questioned what unionists would have to cheer about.

The government has dubbed the agreement (signed on April 10, 1998) a "remarkable achievement", and pledged to mark its anniversary with some "exciting projects and initiatives".

Speaking in the Commons a few weeks ago, Northern Ireland Office junior minister Steve Baker told MPs "we all want to be able to celebrate that agreement and 25 years of peace – and to celebrate it with the Executive up and running".

• Sammy Wilson MP recalled that the DUP of course opposed the 1998 deal.

But "nonetheless people voted for it" and "we always fell back on the consent principle which was contained within it".

"Now what is quite clear is that the ambiguity around that consent principle has given the government the ability to ignore what was meant to be one of the central pillars of the agreement – namely that NI's position within the UK could not be changed without our consent," he said.

"The Supreme Court made it quite clear the Act of Union and therefore our position within the UK has been changed."

He said unionists who voted for the agreement now have "every right to be angry, every right to be cynical".

As for the anniversary, and the idea government should celebrate it, he said: "What are they going to celebrate – the Assembly which is not sitting?

"The cross-border bodies which have not met for over a year and a half?

"The principle of consensus government which has now been dispensed with?

"Sure they've torn it up! What have they got to celebrate? Sure they've torn it up by their own actions!"

• MORE HERE: Loyalist Communities Council chairman: If DUP goes soft on Northern Ireland Protocol it will stir unrest in UVF/UDA ranks

• TUV leader Jim Allister, likewise a staunch critic of the agreement in 1998, said: "Unionists who supported the agreement thought they had the safety net of having to consent to any constitutional change.

"Now they've seen constitutional change without any consent.

"So I think that has dissipated any lingering faith in the Belfast Agreement.

"So I don't think there's many unionists who'll find much to celebrate.

"I think they'll be very hollow celebrations indeed."

• And UUP stalwart Sir Reg Empey, who worked with David Trimble to help forge the agreement in 1998, said he too feels any big celebration would not be "appropriate in current circumstances".

But he also questioned what the alternative to the agreement and its institutions would be.

He agreed that, because of the Protocol, "the spirit of the agreement has been broken".

"But I think unionism needs to have a big, deep think about how it proceeds," he said.

"Because most of the people who are out spouting about this at the moment, A) were against the agreement in the first place and did everything in their power to wreck it, and B) they were almost to a man Brexiteers.

"And fundamentally if there'd been no Brexit, there'd be no Protocol, there'd be no Irish Sea order, there'd be no inspection posts, etc, etc."

He added: "Let's suppose you tear the agreement up and get rid of it. What happens? Who runs this place?

"Because it's not going back to direct rule as it was the case previously, I can tell you that for certain; Westminster has no intention of getting involved in that sense."