His opposition to the revised Northern Ireland protocol should be treated with the same contempt with which he ran the party
Rishi Sunak has no alternative. The United Kingdom which Northern Ireland is part of is a democracy ruled by the Westminster parliament. In the matter of the Northern Ireland protocol, the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) is claiming the right of veto over a classic function of any union – foreign trade. The party is supported by the Tories’ recent leader and prime minister, Boris Johnson. This is intolerable.
Polls show support for the DUP hovering between 20-25%. It does not represent most of Northern Ireland’s people. Nor does it command a majority of unionist opinion, with official unionists, the extreme TUV and the Alliance party together garnering close to 30%. It is only the power-sharing Good Friday agreement that keeps the DUP with a veto, which it is using to halt the devolved government at Stormont until it gets its way against the protocol.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
