Statement by TUV Downshire East candidate Stewart Ferris:
“The Prime Minister’s call for Unionists to form an executive under Sinn Fein/IRA’s leadership while all the while ignoring the fundamental issues with the Protocol means that his pleas should be rejected out of hand.
“The constitutional guarantees of the Belfast Agreement which Unionists were told ensured there could be no change in the status of Northern Ireland without consent have been exposed as bogus. The key provisions of the Union which ensured that all parts of the U.K. were on an equal footing when it comes to trade have been trashed.
“Lord Trimble pointed out that the Protocol “demolishes” a central part of the Belfast Agreement. Yet the Prime Minister – who has done nothing to rectify this situation – lectures Unionists about the need to get back to Stormont.
“The courts have made it clear that to operate devolution Unionists must revert to being Protocol implementors. Such a situation should be untenable for anyone who values the ties which bind the U.K. together. Unionism must unitedly make it clear that a situation which leaves us subject to foreign laws we do not make and cannot change, overseen by a foreign court and in a foreign single market and customs union as far as the rest of the U.K. is concerned is intolerable.
“The lack of clarity to date from the lead Unionist party on the attempts to dress the Protocol up as the Windsor Framework is deeply concerning and something grassroots Unionism is growing increasingly tired with.”