‘I am ready to act – but prepared to wait’: DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson sets out protocol tactics

The DUP leader made the comments on Monday evening after facing criticism for allowing his previous deadline to come and go, without taking any action.

As reported on the News Letter front page on Monday, back in September and again in October, Sir Jeffrey had talked about wanting to see progress by the time October ended – or else he was prepared to walk out of Stormont, collapsing the government.

Jim Allister of the TUV had accused him of showing weakness and of being caught out making mere “empty threats”.

Tonight Mr Donaldson – alongside MPs Sammy Wilson and Carla Lockhart – set out where the DUP now stands.

He has previously claimed credit for the fact that London and Brussels are now talking about what to do with the Protocol, and tonight said “it would be churlish” to pull the plug on Stormont when “progress” seems to be on the cards.

“Now, I’m prepared to give a little more time for those negotiations to reach a conclusion,” he said.

“And that conclusion has to mean agreement on the removal of the Irish Sea border.

“If that doesn’t happen I expect the Government, as the Prime Minister said last week, to take unilateral action.

“The Prime Minister has said that the conditions exist to trigger Article 16 and I expect that to happen.

“If these things don’t happen, then I will act. I’ve made that absolutely clear. My strategy remains as it has been.

“But, given the progress that we’re making towards the objectives that we want to achieve, I’m prepared to give a little more time to achieve those objectives.

“I think that we’re talking about weeks. That’s what I have said, and I expect real and decisive progress to be made.”

However, UUP lord Sir Reg Empey – one of the DUP’s fiercest critics when it comes to its handling of Brexit – has ridiculed the suggestion of collapsing Stormont, saying it will just create yet more problems.

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Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s chief whip at Westminster (in charge of enforcing discipline) had for years been its spokesman on Brexit.

He struck back at Sir Reg,

“Reg has not been a great strategist in the past, don’t forget,” said Mr Wilson, castigating the former UUP leader for his hand in the Good Friday Agreement, which the DUP had opposed.

“I don’t think we’ll ever take any lessons in strategy from Reg.”

He then explained the rationale for letting the October timetable slide.

“Two months ago we were being told there’d be no negotiations on the Protocol,” he said.

“It’s the pressure the DUP has put on, both by threats about the Assembly, by pressure at Westminster, and by building up alliances at Westminster, that the Protocol is now on the agenda, re-negotiation of it is now on the agenda.

“The reason for the October deadline was because, by the beginning of November, the full implementation of the Protocol was meant to be in place and the grace periods were going to end.

“Of course, that was going to cause a huge crisis in terms of supply of goods in the shops.”

Since then the grace periods have been extended, “so the crisis that was going to hit at the beginning of November has not occurred, and in the meantime negotiations have started,” he added.

“I think it’d be very unwise for Jeffrey to say at this stage: Well, we don’t know what the outcome of the negotiations are, but we’re going to pull the plug this minute anyway.

“I think people would begin to think we’re a bit foolish if we’d done that.”

Also setting out the DUP’s Protocol thinking today was MP Carla Lockhart MP warned of “instability” if unionists do not get the desired outcome.

“Time’s moving on. The patience of this party and the people isn’t without limit,” she said.

“Indeed, it is stretched to breaking point right now. Promises of progress, of conclusions in weeks, are just talk.

“Let us see the action that is needed to ensure that political stability is restored to Northern Ireland and the damaging impact of this disastrous Protocol for all the people of Northern Ireland is consigned to the past.”

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