Speaking tonight to TUV members in Ballymoney JIm Allister said:-
“The mere extension of a grace period on chilled meats, or anything else, is not a matter of substance but of tinkering.
“The test of any changes is whether they still leave this part of the United Kingdom subject to foreign laws and in a foreign single market for goods and under a foreign customs code, with no say in all the resulting laws. Such rule-taking leaves us in vassalage to the EU. So long as the EU’s writ runs in Northern Ireland, then, so long will acceptable change not have been made. There is no room for compromise on these constitutional issues.
“Thus, in addition to regaining control over Irish language legislation, the new DUP leader needs to be immovable in standing by this defining principle of what it means to be a part of the U.K., rather than the EU.
“While Mary-Lou McDonald might again tell the DUP what it must and must not do, this time the DUP needs to discover a backbone and refuse to do SInn Féin’s bidding.
“HMG and Edwin Poots toadied to Sinn Fein last week, now Mr Donaldson needs to not just talk tough, but act tough. Spin and salesmanship won’t cut it! There can be no sacred cow, not even Stormont, in this political survival struggle against the Union-dismantling Protocol.
“If it takes a tangible demonstration that far from protecting the Belfast Agreement institutions the Protocol is taking them down, then, no Unionist should hold back. It is a question of priority – TUV is clear, the Union and British sovereignty comes first. Let’s see if others are equally resolute?”