Jim Allister said:
“Unionists are often not good at taking the long view in politics – sometimes even the medium view! For some the short term gratification of reclaiming ministerial seats and perks at Stormont trumps the resulting longterm damage of implementing the Protocol and enthroning Sinn Fein.
“Amidst all the hype for the DUP to get back to Stormont, it would be prudent to remember the reason why this matters so much to HMG and all Protocol devotees.
“Sunak knows the surest way to cement the Protocol is through unionist implementation. For Sinn Fein it is about exploiting the Protocol’s stepping stones to economic Irish unity and about helping deliver them into government in the Republic. Being in government north and south is key to their strategic goals. Yet, some unionists would foolishly aid their mission by writing them the character reference of presiding over Stormont.
“As we enter 2024 Unionists should be mindful of what happens in December 2024 when in an Assembly vote there is majority but not cross-community support for continuation of Articles 5-10 of the Protocol (Articles 5-10 being those which surrender sovereignty over trade, border and commerce to the EU). It should be understood that whether or not the Assembly is functioning, it will be called together for the purpose of the December 2024 vote.
“In the absence of cross-community support there must be an ‘independent review’ of the Protocol established by the UK “into the functioning of the NI Protocol”.
“Of course the worth and effect of such an “independent” review is suspect, but one thing is certain, if the Executive is by that point operating, then, it will be a mere tick-box exercise. But, if continuing unionist dissent means there is no executive, then, the review could have more worth, because the Protocol’s destruction of the Belfast Agreement institutions would be hard to ignore.
“Hence, the necessity for unionists to think and act strategically with a view to ensuring that review is the most challenging it can be. That means staying out of Stormont during 2024.
“The UUP has exuberantly hailed that review as an “opportunity”, but it can only be an opportunity if there is no Executive. If normal service has been resumed under the Protocol, with unionists operating as implementers, then, the review will indeed amount to nothing.
“So, strategic thinking is very much on the side of unionists standing firm. Not just because of the December 2024 review and because in 2024 there will be a new government anxious for ‘progress’, but, above all, because to return to Stormont, at any point, as Protocol implementers, is to add unionist endorsement to that which is dismantling the Union. That is the point of no return!
“So, what should unionists do?
“Restore the demand for ‘equal citizenship’ to the core of unionism and its thinking. Equal citizenship in being governed only by British laws and British courts and having equal trading rights with no partitioning internal border. Demanding and settling only for equal citizenship is the antidote to the poison of the Protocol, because in every way it is our equal citizenship in the U.K. that the Protocol has destroyed.
“It is no coincidence that ‘equal citizenship’ was the demand of the founding fathers of unionism in their day of threatened calamity. Integration, not devolution was the aspiration.
“May 2024 be the year when unionism rediscovers and holds to its core values, rather than experimenting with a kamikaze return to Stormont to implement the Union-dismantling Protocol and its all-Ireland agenda and destination.”