Statement by TUV East Antrim candidate Norman Boyd:
“Today on Nolan Gordon Lyons trotted out what is clearly the key DUP scare tactic of this election – the idea that if you do not vote for the DUP then we will end up facing a border poll.
“The old mantra used to be that you had to vote DUP to stop a Sinn Fein First Minister. Now, because the party does not want to answer the question of whether they will provide a deputy to a Sinn Fein First Minister, they seek to dodge the issue by suggesting one must vote for them to save the Union.
“This is nonsense. The key deciding factor when it comes to calls for a border poll is not the number of DUP votes or seats but the number of UNIONIST votes and seats. A vote for ANY Unionist party is a vote for the Union.
“But as the DUP have chosen to frame the election in these terms voters are entitled to ask how good a job the DUP have done of defending the Union over the past 20 years.
“Is the Union stronger today than it was two decades ago? We all know the answer to that! Indeed, it was a DUP Minister who effectively made Larne a border town by building the disastrous Poots’ Posts! While the party now belatedly talks tough on the Protocol grassroots Unionists are no fools. They remember that for a year and more the DUP implemented the Protocol, even going so far as to vote in favour of the very regulations necessary for the Sea Border to operate. They recall that the current DUP leader even claimed that customs checks didn’t mean that the constitutional status of Northern Ireland had changed!
“In truth, ordinary loyalists were well ahead of the DUP when it came to the Protocol and it was only in the lead up to the election that the party took belated action on the issue.
“The message on the doors is clear – people recognise that it is TUV which is the authentic voice of opposition to the border dividing the UK. I have no doubt that our stance on this and other issues will see us rewarded on polling day.”