King's Speech: Northern Ireland more and more a place apart says Jim Allister

The King's Speech, which outlined what Downing Street wants to achieve in its final year, promised to “strengthen the social fabric” of the United Kingdom but gave no detail on how that would happen.

And there was no specific mention of the province, and as expected no proposals on restoring Northern Ireland's place in the UK internal market.

Sitting beside Queen Camilla, the 74 year old monarch set out what the government’s plans in what's expected to be the last King's Speech before a general election.

Twenty one bills were announced, but on the Union the king only said that the government "will promote the integrity of the Union and strengthen the social fabric of the United Kingdom".

A briefing document released by Number 10 to accompany the speech provided no detail on precisely how the government plans to strengthen or promote the Union.

That was in contrast to plans for a specific bill to exploit potential post-Brexit global trade opportunities, which Northern Ireland will not be able to fully avail of as it remains wedded to the EU single market.

In the first King's Speech for over 70 years, King Charles announced that “a bill will be brought forward to promote trade and investment with economies in the fastest growing region in the world. My ministers will continue to negotiate trade agreements with dynamic economies, delivering jobs and growth in the United Kingdom”.

The DUP broadly welcomed the speech, however Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said that more needed to be done on affordable childcare and that discussions continue with the government.

The DUP leader said the party "will continue in our discussions with the government to see Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom and its internal market restored.

"The government often stresses its commitment to the Union, and it is important this is demonstrated with concrete actions which bring all parts of the United Kingdom closer together. The DUP has put forward proposals in this area and we hope this can be progressed in the future.”

The News Letter asked the DUP if the party is confident that Northern Ireland will benefit from the government's cited post Brexit trade plans.

The UK government has made clear that the Windsor Framework will not be renegotiated, and any legislation to come forward is unlikely to alter fundamentally the fact that Northern Ireland remains in the EU's regulatory system for goods.

The absence in the speech of even a nod to the restoration of Northern Ireland's equal footing in the UK market suggests the prospect of the DUP achieving something which could arguably meet their seven tests is not on the immediate horizon.

With Rishi Sunak’s government coming to the end of its term, there has been speculation that the DUP may simply wait for a Labour to enter Number 10 after the next general election as a Keir Starmer-led government could align the UK more closely to the European Union – negating the need for sea-border infrastructure.

The DUP have publicly and privately been dismissive of that suggestion, although individual representatives do see it as a possibility.

The Ulster Unionist Party leader criticised the DUP strategy to boycott Stormont and said it was not surprising that Northern Ireland didn't get a mention in the speech.

Doug Beattie said: “We have been promised for almost two years that the existing strategy of refusing to govern from Stormont would bring the solutions to remove any Irish sea border. Today we have seen that this strategy has left Northern Ireland sitting far from the centre of Westminster’s thoughts."

TUV leader Jim Allister told the News Letter that “As the UK diverges from the EU over time Northern Ireland becomes more and more a place apart and closer to Dublin than London. That is the evil genius of the protocol.

"To claim to be in the business of promoting and strengthening the Union while bringing forward no legislation to address the vandalism done to our constitutional position by the protocol is at best disingenuous.

“Tellingly, while detail is provided in the background briefing notes on the substance of the legislation sketched out in His Majesty’s speech, nothing is said about how the government plans to strengthen the Union.”