DUP's Sammy Wilson won't attend Carrickfergus Sea Border rally - saying meetings are TUV electioneering

Sammy Wilson also said that the fight over the Irish Sea border has to be had within the DUP – as he warned against further splits within unionism.

An arch opponent of the deal between his party and the government on the trade border, Mr Wilson has confirmed to the News Letter that he won’t attend a rally in Carrickfergus tonight organised by Jim Allister and Jamie Bryson.

The DUP MP said: “I don’t think that it does any good to create the kind of poisonous atmosphere that I think the TUV are trying to create.

“I don’t regard Jeffrey as a traitor or a sell-out. He’s somebody who made a choice that’s different from the choice I would have made.”

He said Sir Jeffrey had made a decision after balancing arguments about how much further he could go in negotiations.

“It wasn’t the best judgment, but it doesn’t make him a bad person or a traitor – and I’m certainly not going to lend anything to that kind of argument.

“And I don’t think it does any good for the unionist cause either for that kind of attitude to be adopted.”

He said the TUV “are making it personal, because the chief aim of this is to build up an election campaign rather than deal with the issues which have to be dealt with. You’ll certainly not deal with the issues by dividing unionism further and by calling into question the integrity of people who make choices – some of which were difficult. Time will prove if they were right or wrong.

“I still believe that some of the decisions were wrong. But I’m certainly not going to lend any credence to the argument that these decisions were made because someone was a treacherous sell-out merchant.”

He continued: “We are still the biggest unionist party. We are still the unionist party which has got the capability of leading unionism. Therefore, that’s where the argument has to be won and the fight has to be had.

“My argument all along has been that we have got to keep our eyes on the issues. Because it’s only by keeping your eyes on the issues when it comes to the review of the protocol will you be able to say ‘these are the issues that need to be addressed’ and challenge people.

“If we get bogged down in the quagmire of who is good and who is bad – who is the best unionist and who is the worst unionist ... all of that is lost.”

Asked if there should be public meetings about the Irish Sea border, Mr Wilson said: “I don’t mind public debate about the issue. But I don’t think once you’ve organised those in the format that is being organised that anybody comes away more enlightened. If anything they only come away more embittered and more determined to split unionism up.”

He said he receives mail from constituents both supporting the party’s stance and opposing it – and encouraging him to oppose it.

“I have no doubt what the issues are, and I have no doubt what needs to be done about the issues. But the mechanism by which you do it is equally important.

“Jeffrey has already said he fully intends to address the issues that haven’t been addressed – and I just want to make sure they’re addressed in the right way. The best route I have to do that is to argue the case within the party,” he said.

It comes after the neighbouring DUP MP Paul Girvan attended an event with Mr Allister and Mr Bryson in Ballyclare last week. In a post soon afterwards on the South Antrim MP’s political Facebook page, a statement distanced the MP from the event.

It said: “Tonight I attended, for a short time, what was advertised as a public meeting in my constituency.”

It continued: “I was totally disappointed to hear the platform being used for petty and vindictive attacks on my DUP colleagues and other fellow unionists. It is clear the meeting was designed to divide unionism and will only serve to boost those who want to see us fail to make Northern Ireland work.”