Unionist unity critical DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson tells party members

"For as long as I have been in politics, grassroots unionists have been seeking their elected representatives to work together,” he said. “Wherever I travel in Northern Ireland people say to me 'there are too many unionist parties' or 'we are fed up with unionist infighting'.

"In recent years, there has been a more meaningful effort to set aside labels and work cohesively for the betterment of Northern Ireland. In my time as party leader, I have sought to avoid engaging in public bickering with fellow unionists and have instead concentrated on defending and promoting the Union of the UK."

He was speaking at the end of a week which saw UUP leader Doug Beattie lambasting the boycotting of Stormont and insisting that this policy - currently enacted only by the DUP - has had no impact on negotiations relating to the NI Protocol.

Sir Jeffrey added: "Whilst I will disagree at times with other unionists about tactics, we are on the same page on most major issues about the Union."

"In some cases, years of daily gutting each other on the airwaves has had an eroding effect on the pro-union voter. Indeed, it drives many pro-union voters to stand back from getting involved in elected politics or voting in elections. This has cost unionism dear and helped pave the way for the success of our opponents."

Ultimately unionism’s goal should be maximising unionist voting, he added.

Also this week, DUP peer Lord Dodds said that a Lords report on the Windsor Framework confirms it has failed to resolve many problems.

This was followed by Sir Jeffrey stating that he expects to receive a “definitive response” from the Government soon over problems he had raised with it about the Framework.

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