TUV says unionism weakened by DUP 'Brexit blunders'

Strategic "blunders" by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) over Brexit have weakened unionism's position, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister has said.

He made his remarks at the party's annual conference, which met in Cookstown on Saturday.

Members gathered for the first time since Allister was elected to Westminster after he won the North Antrim seat from Ian Paisley of the DUP in the general election in July.

"Never let anyone pretend to you that the union is not depleted by the [Northern Ireland] protocol - it inescapably is." Allister said.

"Unionism is not in a good place - that is because primarily not just the pernicious imposition of the protocol which is dismantling our union, but because of the strategic blunders in which most unionists have put their faith.

"It is strategic blunders of the DUP that have weakened our position and the return to Stormont was the biggest blunder of them all."

The union had been "depleted" because of the post-Brexit Irish Sea border and would remain insecure until it is removed, Allister said.

The TUV leader said the DUP's deal with the UK government - which changed some post-Brexit rules for Northern Ireland - was the "undoing of the union".

The Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, the Windsor Framework, effectively keeps it inside the EU single market for goods.

That creates the Irish Sea border, a range of rules and processes required to send goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

When the EU makes new rules for goods they will generally apply in Northern Ireland which in turn can make the operation of the Irish Sea border more complicated.

In December, the UK government said the Windsor Framework was "the only available and credible" basis for stability in Northern Ireland.

The framework amended the original Brexit deal for NI, the Northern Ireland Protocol.

In February 2024 the DUP agreed to restart power-sharing at Stormont after securing changes to the Windsor Framework.

In practice, some businesses have said they are still facing difficulties in trading across the Irish Sea.

At the time the deal was reached, then-DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it would remove the Irish Sea border in full.

His successor as leader, Gavin Robinson, later said there should have been "more cautious realism" about what had been agreed.

Addressing TUV members on Saturday, Allister criticised the DUP for "betraying" unionism by signing up to the deal and described the DUP leader and his predecessor as "Give-in Gavin" and "Dodgy Deal Jeffrey".

"Let's never forget those brazen lies, for they are the undoing of our union: the Irish Sea border is gone - a deliberate lie; zero checks, zero paperwork - a flagrant falsehood… the union is safe - just like the Irish Sea border is gone, I suppose," Allister said.

The North Antrim MP said he recognised there were still unionists in the DUP, and in the Ulster Unionist Party, who "recognise the truth of what we say", adding: "by propping up a failed leadership they give credence to the betrayal".

"If ever there was a time for unionists who know and stand for the truth to band together, this is it. It is my wish that would happen," he said.

Allister also described the DUP's return to Stormont as a "watershed of surrender".

He added that an independent review of the Windsor Framework being undertaken by Lord Murphy presented a "watershed of retrieval if the DUP wants to recover any semblance of credibility".

"Unionism should unitedly throw down the gauntlet to the government by declaring that if the Murphy Review leaves the fundamentals, both constitutional and economic, of the Union-dismantling Protocol unaltered, then, the Stormont prop will be removed," he said.

"If there's any mettle left in the DUP then now's the time to prove it."

At the 2024 TUV conference the party announced an electoral partnership with Reform UK for the general election.

The then Reform UK leader Richard Tice co-signed a "memorandum of understanding" at the conference alongside Allister.

After being elected to Parliament, Allister held talks about taking the Reform UK whip but ultimately decided against that, instead saying he would support Reform UK's five MPs on matters of mutual interest.