Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says DUP's strategy in opposing Northern Ireland Protocol has been vindicated

He made the statement tonight to party members and supporters in Brookeborough, Co Fermanagh, warning it would be a mistake to ignore the objections of unionists a second time.

Sir Jeffrey said: "We warned London, Washington, Dublin and Brussels in July 2021 that the Northern Ireland Protocol was incompatible with powersharing and our hard-won politically balanced arrangements.

"We gave time and space for these fundamental concerns to be addressed but that time was not utilised.

"Instead, some local parties told us that the protocol had to be 'rigorously implemented'. No one is saying that now.

"We are seeking the restoration of democratic decision-making to the Assembly, replacing the democratic deficit created by the protocol.

"Why should anyone want to deny the people of Northern Ireland, through their democratically elected representatives, a say or a vote on vast swathes of the laws governing our economy and which affect the people of Northern Ireland so directly?"

He continued: “The Protocol was not, is not and will not be supported by unionists. It was a mistake for its authors to press ahead with an agreement that has harmed Northern Ireland's constitutional and economic place within the United Kingdom.

"Whilst I welcome that there is public recognition that it was a mistake to ignore the objections of unionists, the greatest misstep would be if the same mistake were to be repeated.

"Political progress in Northern Ireland has been painstakingly slow at times but it has never been achieved by one side ignoring the concerns of the other.

"With a divided society, we need to work together. Not one unionist MP or MLA supported the protocol. Such a one-sided approach was never going to work. We need a deal that unionists as well as nationalists can support."

Sir Jeffrey reiterated the DUP’s position that there is “no solid basis for an Executive and Assembly until the protocol is replaced with arrangements that restore Northern Ireland's place in the UK internal market and our constitutional arrangements are respected”.

TUV Leader Jim Allister, speaking at a TUV event tonight in Bushmills, said unionism needs to be on its guard over coming weeks against the pretence of Protocol change while its substance prevails.

He said: “My advice to every unionist is apply this simple test – what, if any, of the content of the Protocol has been changed, because it is its legal text which matters and has force, not its presentation and spin.

“What it comes down to is this – are we still in a foreign Single Market, under a foreign Customs Code and VAT regime and with all attendant laws make in Brussels, not Belfast or London? If so, then our annexation has not been reversed and UK sovereignty restored. These are the immutable touchstones in respect of which there can be no fudge or pretence.”