Statement by TUV Mourne councillor Harold McKee:
“Today’s visit by the US President was remarkable only in how unremarkable it was. Even those who trip over themselves to find the superlatives to describe a President who has made no secret of his hostility to Unionism over the years, will struggle to spin this visit as significant.
“Frankly, the US should mind its own business yet he did seek to laud the Windsor Whitewash as a way forward. Ironically he did so in a speech in which he also referenced the contribution of Ulster-Scots to the cause of freedom in the American War of Independence. That struggle was of course about the right of people to decide their own future and make their own laws. The Protocol / Framework means that Northern Ireland will remain subject to foreign laws, overseen by a foreign court and divided in trade terms from the rest of our country in a fashion no US President would accept for his nation.
“The US wouldn’t tolerate in their own country what Biden seeks to pressure Unionists to accept in relation to Northern Ireland. That being so, I trust that Unionists will continue to resist all pressure seeking a return to being Protocol implementors”.