TUV and Reform pact is about strengthening NI’s position in the UK: Samuel Morrison

Sadly, that proposal never got off the ground and since then Stormont has returned while Article Six of the Acts of Union remains suspended and while Northern Ireland remains under foreign laws we do not make and cannot change overseen by a foreign court.

It is in that context that, just over a month ago, TUV announced a link up with Reform UK. The agreement between the parties is based around six principles:

upholding and strengthening the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including the full restoration of Art 6 of the Act(s) of Union;

equal rights for all citizens within the United Kingdom;

rejection of the Irish Sea border and the subjection of Northern Ireland to EU law and the ECJ;

the completion of a full Brexit so that the United Kingdom in all its parts enjoys full independence and economic freedom;

robust immigration system and controls;

a taxation system, both personal and commercial, which rewards effort.

This is an arrangement which should be welcomed by Unionism - not least because the first three points of the Memorandum of Understanding between TUV and Reform UK are fundamentals about democracy and what constitutes a state.

If Unionism meekly accepts a border in the Irish Sea for goods what is to say that at some point in the future Unionism will not accept it for other matters of profound constitutional importance?

Fundamentally, one of the issues Unionism has faced down through the years is that it is too parochial. Far too often Unionism is prepared to make an argument for Northern Irish exceptionalism. More often than not this has come down to demands for money with little thought for the long-term consequences for the Union.

The constitutional vandalism of the Blair years which saw devolution introduced across the nation has only emboldened Nationalism both here and in Scotland. The Assembly and Scottish Parliament are, all too often, little more than platforms from which Nationalists (of the Irish, Ulster and Scottish varieties) bitterly complain about the supposed lack of funding from Westminster while glossing over their own less than wise priorities when it comes to spending.

A major part of the attraction of the TUV/Reform UK link up for me is that it brings us into UK wide politics. Those who are defeatists will tell us that the majority in the Commons for the Protocol was so large that the battle is pointless. Such logic would have seen our forbearers accept Dublin rule in 1918. But the size of the majority in the Commons also points to two other issues. Firstly, it speaks to the fact that the MPS who we have sent to Westminster thus far have manifestly failed to make the case for the Union in the Mother of Parliaments. Secondly, it highlights that Unionists need to be making the case for the Union not just in Northern Ireland but across our family of nations.

Reform UK are committed to making the case for Brexit for ALL of the United Kingdom a national issue, placing it at the centre of their campaign across the UK. On Friday the deputy leader of the party - Ben Habib - will be joined by his party colleague Ann Widdecombe, Baroness Kate Hoey and TUV leader Jim Allister in a meeting in Dromore Orange Hall at 7:30 pm in which they will spell out their plan to offer voters across the UK an alternative.

In a situation where all others have given up the fight against Northern Ireland being hived off from the rest of our nation such an alternative is badly needed. Unless a rethink is forced within Unionism - remember that those who negotiated the deal which resurrected Stormont refuse to engage in debate with its critics so the only way to force a focus on the issue is through taking the arguments to the electorate - we will be on an irreversible path to an all Ireland. The pernicious plan of the Protocol is to follow the pattern of the EU itself. By building an all Ireland economy it their not unreasonable presumption that ever closer political union will follow.