DUP leader Gavin Robinson to tell Belfast Twelfth the Irish Sea border issue is 'not settled'

The DUP leader is expected to say that the Irish Sea border is not settled for his party, or for the businesses affected by it.

He will also tell Orangemen and women that when unionism is split, it loses – highlighting its defeat to the Alliance Party’s Sorcha Eastwood in Lagan Valley at the last general election.

His party’s decision to return to Stormont without the removal of the Irish Sea border in January 2024 was followed by bitter recriminations between the DUP and TUV – and rumours of a merger between Mr Robinson’s party and the UUP.

Citing the Lagan Valley defeat, Mr Robinson will say that the vote was spread too thin.

In an extract of his Twelfth speech, sent to the News Letter in advance, Mr Robinson says: “In two years, we’ll be back at the polls for the Assembly and the councils. And if we don’t learn the lessons of the past, we’ll repeat the mistakes of the past.

“So let’s start now. Let’s talk seriously about how to get the best result for the Union. That means honesty. Strategy. A willingness to work together. Whether it’s through better cooperation or some form of electoral understanding, the aim is the same: more pro-Union seats. Fewer lost to those who want to take Northern Ireland in a different direction”

He is also expected to give a direct message to the Secretary of State on the Windsor Framework, the arrangements which have resulted in an Irish Sea border.

“Hillary Benn, the new Secretary of State, says the Windsor Framework is ‘settled’. Well, I have news for Hapless Hillary. It’s not settled for us.

“It’s not settled for shop owners trying to stock shelves across a customs border that shouldn’t exist. It’s not settled for hauliers stuck in red tape.

“And it’s not settled for the farmers and vets who have been stripped of access to vital medicines.

“He doesn’t seem to understand the damage being done”, he said.