Protocol: Historian tells Lords that 'politics does not just happen in a lecture theatre' and the real-world views of unionists must be heeded

Professor Patterson of Ulster University, who specialises in Irish history, was one of two academics called to give evidence before Parliament’s ‘Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland Sub-Committee’ in London yesterday.

The other was Cambridge history professor Niamh Gallagher.

Quizzed by lords about the protocol, Prof Patterson urged them to consider the real-world perceptions of unionists, not just the technicalities of treaties.

It is no good "arguing to people like you would in a lecture theatre,” he said.

"Politics is not conducted in a lecture theatre. If sufficient people believe the protocol has violated their membership of the UK, that's the reality …

"You've got to put this in the context of how this peace process was developed and consolidated.

"There's an ongoing struggle in Northern Ireland over the very right of the state to exist.

"Unionists inevitably will see a customs and regulatory barrier within that context of that overall struggle.

"Yes, it's a perception. but politics is based to a substantial degree on perceptions.”

The idea that a majority of MLAs back the protocol, and so unionists should just accept that, “is not working”, and nor would it work in the future, he said.

Part of the discussion considered the Protocol Bill now being pushed through Parliament by the Tories, which unionists hope will be used to blunt or nullify the Irish Sea border.

Dr Gallagher told Lords that when Sinn Fein abandoned Stormont in 2017, “the UK government did not try to unilaterally comply with Sinn Fein’s demands” in order to see devolution restored, adding that “there has been no prior capitulation by the government” to one party’s aims.

Lord Dodds said he wished to “correct” this, noting that, on the very same day, an Irish language bill was being moved through Parliament.

This language bill, he said, was “a direct result of Sinn Fein threatening not to go into the Executive”.