Test of new UUP leader Jon Burrows will be stance on Northern Ireland Protocol: TUV
One of the UUP’s big political rivals has wished its leader-in-waiting well – though reinforced that the big test will be opposing the Northern Ireland Protocol and sea border.
The TUV’s comments came as MLA Jon Burrows was announced as running unopposed for the top seat in the Ulster Unionist Party, marking the fifth time in a row leadership of the UUP has changed with an effective coronation instead of a contest.
Mr Burrows is to take the reins of the party at the end of this month, but speaking this evening a TUV spokesman said his succession “comes at a moment of profound consequence for unionism”.
“Northern Ireland remains subject to the protocol which continues to place EU law over large swathes of our economy and undermines Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom,” said the spokesman.
“Unionism does not need cosmetic adjustments. It needs clarity, courage and an unambiguous commitment to oppose arrangements that separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. The central test of any unionist leader is whether they are prepared to confront that reality honestly and act accordingly.
“If there is to be any rebuilding of unionist confidence, it will only come through firm opposition to the structures that erode our constitutional position.
“We wish Mr Burrows well personally – but unionism will be judged not by changes of leadership, but by whether its representatives are prepared to stand against the protocol in principle and in practice.”
At the party’s conference in autumn last year, Mr Burrows – then just weeks into his political career, having been appointed as MLA over the summer – said Stormont’s collapse would be a risk to the Union, adding the Ulster Unionist Party is the “greatest bulwark against a united Ireland” due to its unwavering support for the institutions.
He went on to describe proposals to quit the European Convention on Human Rights as a “pitfall” for unionism, stating that to come out of it would create “another battle with Irish republicanism, another battle with our government, and another border in the Irish Sea around rights”.