Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“Strange as it is that HMG says the negotiations are over and the DUP claims otherwise, then, it’s time for Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to call out the government if they have failed to deliver and abandon the pretence that Stormont has a future. It can have no future if the price is to implement the Protocol, with the Irish Sea border, EU law and the suspension of Art 6 all remaining.
“Now that the Secretary of State says the negotiations with the DUP have concluded, the details of the deal/offer on the Protocol should be published, rather than dishonest spin take over.
“What happened over the Windsor Whitewash should be a warning to all unionists. The Government published a glossy document of shameless spin and half truths which on examination bore no comparison with the reality of the legal documents.
“Whereas, if in time it comes round to accepting ‘the deal’, a DUP anxious to divert from its shortcomings, aided by the government, might wish to publish their own glossy spin document, it is the claimed legislation and legal changes which matter and on which decisions must be taken.
“I am therefore calling on both the DUP and the government to publish ‘the proposals’ so that we can all objectively judge them. Honesty and transparency is the least unionists expect. If there is concealment and selective spin, then, we can draw the resulting conclusion.
“As for the continuing linkage of the financial package to unionists rolling over and implementing the Protocol in Stormont, this is shameful blackmail. If the Secretary of State accepts there is financial need, then he needs to pump in the money which can be readily distributed through the Civil Service with him taking any executive decisions that are required.”