Staying out of Stormont for 18 months has achieved absolutely nothing, says Doug Beattie as he attends Tory conference

​Doug Beattie spoke to the News Letter from the Conservative gathering in Manchester yesterday, where the DUP has not sent any politician this year.

He said: “It's important that I can be here to engage with these people. If unionism isn't here making our case heard, then where else would you be?”

Mr Beattie said: “It's important that we engage with government and here we are at a conference where the UK government has all come together, there's people here from the ministers for health, for education, for defence and of course the secretary of state and as well as other internationals including the EU Ambassador to London. There's no point standing on the peripheries shouting and making noises. You need to get into the arena and that's why I'm here and I'm talking to people and I'll be meeting the secretary of state later on today to press the issues that I have.”

When asked if his message was a general unionist message, or a specific one that unionists need to go back to Stormont, the UUP leader replied: “Well I think that there's a number of messages. First of all is a Northern Ireland message. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, it's an integral part of the United Kingdom so my position is to how do we safeguard that position within the United Kingdom. I believe that is through a functioning devolved government and I've been pressing for that.

"That's my position. I accept other people have have a different position in regards to that and all positions I suppose we have to listen to but nobody's coming up with a plan B in regards to Northern Ireland. To allow it to decay in the manner it is now is just not good enough.”

What about the Jamie Bryson critique of unionists who want to return to Stormont under the Irish Sea border?

“People think that Jamie Bryson is the voice of all loyalism. And God help him, because he has offered up absolutely nothing in his critique,” said Mr Beattie. "Yes, he's outlined the problems. We have outlined the problems. But at least we're outlining solutions as well, which he has not done. And for the last 18 months, we have had no devolved government. It has achieved absolutely the sum of zero.”