"Perhaps it's time for those who lend votes to come home to Unionism" - UUP demand Alliance come clean on border poll

Ulster Unionist MLA Robbie Butler’s comments came after Alliance leader Naomi Long demanded the Northern Ireland Secretary set out the criteria for calling a border poll.

Ms Long’s words were welcomed by Sinn Finn First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who felt the Alliance leader is “another voice in what has become an increasingly louder conversation” around a vote on breaking Northern Ireland away from Great Britain.

For Mr Butler, her demand reeks of irony, as Alliance demands to be neutral on the border.

Earlier this year, Ms Long said it might make sense for her party not to take a position on any future referendum on the constitutional question – itself a change on three years ago, when she said Alliance would “undoubtedly” come to a position in the near future.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, a border poll must be held if the Secretary of State believes it likely that a majority of people in Northern Ireland would vote to leave the UK and join the Republic of Ireland. How that should be judged has never been made explicit.

Speaking to the BBC’s Borderline podcast, Ms Long said it “would be helpful" to set out the criteria for holding a border poll, adding that by not setting them down “every single election becomes a kind of proxy” for a referendum – something she described as “toxic”.

For Mr Butler, her demands stand in stark contrast to Alliance’s own refusal to tell voters what they would do in the event of a border poll.

“Ms Long has previously suggested her party might step back from taking a position altogether,” he said. “Yet behind the scenes, many suspect a quiet shift in constitutional ambition. That suspicion is not unfounded. The pre-election fence-sitting increasingly looks like a calculated strategy to appeal to both unionist and nationalist voters, with a seemingly shift left to nationalism.

“The Ulster Unionist Party negotiated the Belfast Agreement, so let’s get this one clear; it already sets out the framework for a border poll. It is based on the Secretary of State’s judgment that a majority would vote for Irish unification. To go beyond that, to stipulate or define a criterion or electoral thresholds, risks turning every election into a constitutional battleground. That’s precisely the toxic dynamic Alliance claims to oppose, yet her proposal would entrench it.”

Mr Butler argued that redefining the terms of the Good Friday Agreement jeopardises the Assembly, suggesting that parties would focus on the constitutional question instead of getting on with governing the province.

“Alliance’s long held ambition to reshape the constitutional conversation is becoming clearer,” he added. “Their neutral position is not principled, it’s tactical, and unionists see that now.

“They’re taking note; the middle ground is being redrawn, perhaps it’s time for those who lend votes to come home to unionism.

“It’s time the ambiguity of Alliance on the constitution should be removed and transparency revealed in what they are actually cooking up.”