Jim Allister says voters' trust is his party's strength - as the Irish Sea border set to dominate TUV's election campaign

Jim Allister says it would be “satisfactory” if the party was to win enough seats in the next Assembly election to form the official opposition – saying the SDLP is “so wedded to the system they can’t give it the full welly”.

The unionist leader says Stormont needs a “no holds barred” opposition – and that the seriousness of the Protocol means the the issue needs to be centre-stage in the upcoming battle for unionist votes.

He was speaking to the News Letter ahead of the TUV conference in Cookstown, where Danny Kruger – a prominent Reform UK MP who defected to Nigel Farage’s party from the Tories – will address delegates.

The North Antrim MP – who has led the party for almost two decades and been a thorn in the side of his unionist rivals – says he has no intention of stepping down, with the TUV’s consistently high over the past year at a sustained level where a breakthrough at Stormont could be expected.

He says it is likely that Northern Ireland is facing a change of government after the next general election – and it is important that the TUV “maximises” outreach with parties like Reform – who could lead or form part of the next administration.

Asked he has much faith in Reform, Mr Allister said: “if they are part of or the next government, I think we would be negligent not to have made every effort to try and shape their approach to the Brexit issues and the Northern Ireland issues.

“Since Danny Krueger is the man charged with effectively writing Reform’s programme for government, he's the sort of ear that we want to bend”.

The Irish Sea border is still top of the party’s agenda, and he wants to give unionist voters a clear choice in the next Stormont poll.

“Some people have given up on it. There's nothing more serious in terms of the threat to the Union. Before our eyes, we're seeing the all Ireland economy being built”.

The TUV boss cited recent figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, which economist Dr Esmond Birnie said shows strong hints of trade diversion away from Great Britain and towards the Republic of Ireland.

“Our economy is increasingly into the orbit of Dublin. With every day that passes, we’re being detached. And yet there are some people in Stormont who just want to look the other way”, he said.

In a televised party election broadcast Mr Allister said that other unionist parties had now accepted his interpretation of the Windsor Framework, however he says if they were serious they would not be implementing it at Stormont.

“You can't be in the executive without implementing the protocol. It flows directly from your pledge of office”, he said.

The North Antrim MP said unionism he thinks unionism has “suffered in two ways from the Donaldson deal”.

“It gave up the only real leverage it had. For the DUP in particular, they’ve lost all trust from unionists. I think they're struggling to recover that because you can’t go round telling lies, ‘the Irish Sea border is gone’, while everyday [the public] can see that it’s tightening”, he argued.

He said a recent ruling on transgender issues in the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) would be applied in Northern Ireland through the deal, leaving the province in an “intolerable” position where EU legislation trump’s the UK Supreme Court ruling on biological sex.

“That is of fundamental constitutional significance”, he said.

Mr Allister says he has no sympathy with the argument put forward by other unionist parties that Northern Ireland would be in a worse position without a functioning Stormont.

“The Stormont we have, what's it done? What's it delivering?

“They can't even agree how to get £81M and another £17m out the door”, he said in relation to the recent row over energy support for households.

He said the party’s message is that there would be no Executive while there is a protocol – but his party would not be entering a power-sharing government with Sinn Fein regardless.