Jim Allister: After 2017, who can disagree that mandatory coalition at Stormont cannot work

Yet, sadly, with lemming-like mentality, the focus of other parties has remained on the futility of trying, again, to patch together the unworkable.

2018 will bring more such vain endeavour.

Instead, if there is a path to durable and workable devolution, it lies in abandoning the blight of mandatory coalition and embracing a voluntary coalition of the willing. If such is not possible then British Rule is the only option. Let’s get on with it.

The assertive meddling of Dublin must be resisted. There is no legal or constitutional basis for Varadkar’s demand for “real and meaningful involvement” in decision-making in Northern Ireland. It seems you can change Articles Two and Three of the Republic’s constitution, but not its politicians. Back off: there is no role for you here!

Of course, we face such Dublin aggression because it worked in the past. In 2007 the DUP swallowed and peddled the lie of the threat of ‘joint authority’ as a figleaf to cover its spectacular somersault into government with IRA/Sinn Fein. The constitutional possibility of ‘joint authority’ was a lie then, and it is still a lie.

The last 10 years of failure have been the result of that rollover.

As a nation the biggest issue for our future prosperity lies in securing a complete Brexit. A Brexit hamstrung by alignment with EU rules is not Brexit at all, nor must ‘transition’ become a mere guise for extension of EU membership.

Northern Ireland’s leaving of the EU must be as emphatic and complete as that of the rest of the UK. What the EU does with its resulting external border is ultimately a matter for them and their frontier state, the Republic of Ireland.

No matter how much Brussels and Dublin try to put the onus on us, it is the EU Treaties which present the greatest threat of a ‘hard border’. If they wish to minimise the border then the answer lies in a fulsome free trade deal with the UK and ‘Special Status’ for the Republic when it comes to implementing EU frontier rules.

2018 must see us progress successfully towards full liberation from the shackles of the EU. As the equivocal Brussels deal on Phase 1 is transposed into formal legal text we need to be alert that it does not contain the seeds of regulatory and border distinctions within the UK. All such must be external, not internal.

Vigilance on this core issue will be one of the key tasks of 2018.

Jim Allister QC, MLA, TUV leader, North Antrim