The following platform piece is published in today’s News Letter.
Article by TUV leader Jim Allister KC MLA
Not for the first time Unionism is the butt of pressure. It comes mostly from predictable and malevolent quarters, though also from a Conservative & Unionist Government that thought it could, by the threat of an election, coerce unionism out of its necessary stand against the Union-dismantling Protocol. Unionism, in the main, stood firm, but must continue to do so.
A defining pressure on unionism is to serve with a Sinn Fein First Minister.
TUV’s response has not changed since 2007 when the DUP foolishly agreed to elevate IRA commander McGuinness to the equivalent post in the ‘Chuckle Brothers’ era. On the basis that it is a joint and equal office, where one can’t so much as sign a letter without the other, TUV’s formation was founded on calling out the folly of such elevation of IRA/Sinn Fein.
The fundamental reasons against such enthronement of Sinn Fein still stand, indeed for those who see increased significance in the First Minister title they should be even more pertinent.
There are and remain three core and indissoluble reasons why TUV still stands against serving under or with a Sinn Fein First Minister.
PSNI assessments say Sinn Fein is controlled by the illegal IRA Army Council. To have a government led by a First Minister of that ilk is unconscionable and insufferable. That is the shocking reality any unionist would have to ignore to serve under/with Sinn Fein.
Michelle O’Neill, in celebrating murdering IRA terrorists, has justified their actions with the lie of there having been ‘No Alternative’. This has directly led to the disgusting ‘Up the RA’ culture which knows no bounds in aggression, as seen recently in the disgusting affront to Baroness Foster.
Sinn Fein is in business to destroy Northern Ireland, not to make It work. It is clear being in government in Northern Ireland is but an enhanced platform from which to demand our removal from the U.K.
So, inescapably, the response to these stubborn facts of any unionist, who embraces and enables Sinn Fein rule, is, at best, nonchalant indifference and, at worst, a hunger for power over principle! Being Sinn Féin’s bridesmaid should not be the aspiration of any unionist!
TUV will not whitewash these unpalatable facts nor trample on the graves of the IRA’s innocent victims by giving cover or sanction to Sinn Fein rule.
Dublin, of course, is loud in the chorus of demand to enthrone Sinn Fein in Stormont. What hypocrisy; just a few days ago Leo Varadkar declared Sinn Féin unfit for government in the Republic because of McDonald’s attempt to distinguish IRA murder from gangster murders. Well, goose and gander come to mind, Mr Varadkar!
But but, some plaintively cry, we’ll lose Stormont. When Stormont means Sinn Fein rule, what’s the loss?
If the choice is British Direct Rule or Sinn Fein Rule, TUV has no difficulty in knowing which is best, though not perfect. As for the threat of ‘joint authority’, it is exactly that, an empty threat, a constitutional impossibility – just as it was in 2007 when the fictional ‘Plan B’ was talked up by those scrambling for cover to get into bed with Sinn Fein.
For all its problems, there is an irresistible logic to being ruled as an integral part of the Kingdom to which we belong, especially when the alternative is Trojan devolution whereby every day our Britishness is eroded. Moreover, the overruling of Stormont on key social issues, like abortion, has stripped away the pretence that devolution is a protection against such.
Constitutionally, Northern Ireland either gets government from Stormont or Westminster. The challenge to unionism is to secure maximum integration, leaving bleating Sinn Fein in boycott purgatory. One Crown, One Parliament, One People is still the essence of undiluted unionism.