Statement by TUV Knockagh council candidate James Strange:
“In the coming days, Unionists can expect a renewed effort to sell the Windsor Whitewash as a basis to return to Stormont and enthrone Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill as First Minister. They would be wise to ignore such efforts and look at the cold, hard facts. Few are more telling than the fact that the Prime Minister has gone into hiding when faced with the prospect of some very telling questions about his deal.
“In a damning report published today the House of Commons EU scrutiny committee blasts the Prime Minister for failing to appear before them. They wanted to quiz him about the deal he announced to such fanfare just a few weeks ago.
“We now have a situation where the Prime Minister is refusing to answer basic questions. The committee spell some of these out in their report:
• The continued application of EU law in Northern Ireland and oversight of this law by the European Court of Justice;
• The potential for regulatory divergence from Great Britain due to Northern Ireland’s alignment with the EU and how this will damage the territorial integrity of the Union and
• How the people of Northern Ireland will be left in a situation where they have no real say in the laws which govern them.
“Such issues should be of primary importance to Unionists and yet we have the farce of Unionists supposedly engaged on a consultation on the issue. There is no doubt as to where TUV stands on matters which cut to the heart of Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.
“The Prime Minister is quite happy to do softball interviews with media outlets which themselves have a transparent agenda to assist his sales pitch. When faced with the prospect of a proper grilling on matters of key constitutional importance he runs away. That should tell any Unionist all they need to know about the Windsor Whitewash.”