Jim Allister’s New Year Message:
“For TUV the imperative in 2019 is a proper Brexit on 29th March. Hence, the necessity of defeating Mrs May’s disastrous Backstop proposal, which would surrender Northern Ireland to a foreign customs union subject to EU laws and tariffs into which it would have no input, never mind control.
“The constitutional trap of the Backstop is that it leaves only this part of the UK within the Customs Union of the EU and thereby pushes the EU customs frontier to the Irish Sea, leaving us annexed and cut off. Thus the defeat of the Backstop is essential to our constitutional integrity and future growth as a part of the UK. Otherwise, we morph under Dublin and Brussels control.
“Leaving the EU without a deal would be highly preferable for the whole United Kingdom to Mrs May’s perfidious deal. It would not involve “crashing out” into economic oblivion but leaving on ordered World Trade terms – the very terms on which much of our trade is already conducted. With an extra £39b in our pocket and the ability to immediately move to new trade deals, prosperity, not penury, would be our evolving destiny.
“Nor, would it be long before the EU would be knocking our door looking for a deal, as their need for our trade is greater than ours is for theirs. Leaving without a deal will bring Brussels and particularly Dublin to their senses.
“So, I have no fear of a WTO Brexit.
“There is a reason, of course, for the hysteria of nationalism over Brexit. Nationalism, both Scottish and Irish, can see that growth for the UK outside the EU, arising from trade deals with the burgeoning economies, will bring prosperity across the UK and thereby diminish interest in breaking up the UK. Only the diehards would put their nationalist ideology above prosperity. Hence, a proper Brexit secures the Union.
“The other big event of 2019 will be the Local Government elections in May.
“The shocking revelations of RHI, along with the Sri Lankan holiday scandal and other excesses, have brought Unionism to the low point of Sinn Fein, with all its odious past, setting itself up to lecture us on the standards required in public life.
“Those who brought brand unionism so low have much to answer for. The local government elections will afford an opportunity to recalibrate. TUV, untainted by these scandals, or the Stormont Shambles, will offer a fresh start.
“Through a proper and complete Brexit 2019 can go down in our nation’s history as a momentous turning point for the better. May it be so. “