The Northern Ireland Protocol is unsustainable in the long term

Unionists are continually being told that the Northern Ireland Protocol is the best of both worlds and that any interruption of it would be an act of economic vandalism.

This begs the question if you really believe that the NI Protocol gives Northern Ireland economic advantages above other regions why would any Irish republican/nationalist wish to support it?

If Northern Ireland was really in a unique position that would bring it prosperity then surely any move to Irish unification would remove these special advantages creating an incentive to vote against unification.

A better analogy for the NI Protocol would be to describe it as picking your own poison whereby you decide where you want the friction to go for your trade.

It is difficult to assess the economic worth of the protocol as we haven’t yet seen its full implementation and have no idea what way Britain may diverge from the EU in the longer term.

While it might be of some value to businesses that mostly trade or supply from the EU it is clearly harmful to many others.

Given how integrated the economies of Britain and Ireland have been for centuries it is difficult to believe that the harm won’t outweigh the benefits.

The protocol cannot possibly be the best of both worlds and is inevitably a choice about where your friction goes in circumstances were you don’t want to respect the existing border of a country.

I think the likely answer to my question is that the entirety of Irish nationalism supports the protocol for the same reason that virtually all of unionism oppose it.

That is that it is a bizarre arrangement within a sovereign country that is both messy and bureaucratic.

It cannot possibly sustain itself in the long term and must lead to either a return of Britain to the EU, a return of Northern Ireland to the UK or to Irish unification.

Unionism must remain out of power sharing until our place within the UK is restored.

Mr R G McDowell, Belfast BT5