Statement by TUV party chairman and East Londonderry representative Jordan Armstrong:
“The decision of the DUP to take part in today’s North-South Ministerial Council meeting suggests that the party, having become increasingly conditioned themselves to the Protocol, are now increasingly moving to a position where they will try to condition the Unionist people to accept that it will be business as usual with Dublin.
“When campaigning for the leadership of his party, Sir Jeffery suggested that he was prepared to threaten the stability of power-sharing in order to derail the Protocol. Now that he is in office dealings with the Dublin government continue as normal while at the same time our East/West relations have been trashed.
“Is it now the DUP position that unless the Protocol is expressly listed as an item on the agenda for the meeting North-South Ministerial meetings can take place? If so, their claim that it won’t be business as usual with Dublin is meaningless. Such a farce sends completely the wrong message on the Protocol and will cut no ice with grassroots Unionists.”