As we leave 2022 behind, its energy and cost of living crises sadly come with us into 2023. So too does the constitutional crisis of the Protocol.
Just as in 2022 TUV was to the forefront, in both legal and political challenge, in resisting the Union-dismantling Protocol, so in 2023 we will not rest until our place within the U.K. is fully restored. TUV has called the Protocol right from the start. Indeed, when others were flirting with it as a ‘sensible’ proposal with ‘opportunities’ and building the very posts for the Irish Sea border, TUV was calling the Protocol out as the EU sovereignty grab that it is.
Moreover, the strong vote for TUV in May 2022 (over 65,000 votes) helped put backbone into others, with all awake unionists now recognising that HMG must choose: Stormont or Protocol.
To anyone yet complacent about the constitutional threat of the Protocol I say grasp this reality: the Protocol decrees and operates on the basis that GB is a foreign country whose goods in consequence must be checked coming into what is now EU colonial territory where foreign EU laws touching on customs, trading and VAT apply. This is unbearable for anyone who cares about our place in the U.K. This wrong must be righted in 2023.
It follows that in 2023 there can be no Stormont so long as we are subject to the Union-subjugating Protocol, because, as our High Court recently ruled, Stormont ministers must implement the Protocol. That is something no unionist worthy of the name can do.
So, in 2023 TUV will hold fast to these fundamentals and encourage others to do likewise. TUV is your insurance policy. And if a Stormont election comes we will again offer the opportunity to speak with strength, not weakness.
We know there will be Council Elections on 18th May. TUV is looking to significantly strengthen its local government presence and will be providing more council candidates than ever before. This is an opportunity for us all to do our bit. If you are a TUV supporter who wants to get involved, then, contact us as we strive to stand strong in a time when nothing less will do.
TUV in 2023 will retain its moral compass causing us to reject terrorists in government, amnesty, the destruction of the unborn and dilution of marriage and gender identity.
I wish all a Happy New Year and may it be a year in which we see unionism recover ground ceded through the iniquitous Protocol.