The TUV leader was speaking as he handed in his nomination papers for the North Antrim constituency – setting up the first head-to-head Westminster battle between himself and the DUP’s Ian Paisley in over a decade. The party has been buoyed by the recent DUP U-turn on its Safeguarding the Union deal and the Irish Sea border, which vindicated some of the criticisms Mr Allister and others made earlier this year. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
However, Gavin Robinson is warning voters of “the impact of vote shredding” giving seats to Sinn Fein – a tactic the party has used successfully in previous election campaigns. He also says “no ideological purity” overrides representation in Westminster, in an apparent reference to the TUV’s position on the protocol. Last week Mr Robinson said the party would seek to remove “the application of EU law in our country and the internal Irish Sea border it creates”.
That would require a complete dismantling of the Windsor Framework, and many inside and outside the DUP will watch closely what approach the party develops to flesh out that policy. Sammy Wilson later said that the party would back alternative ‘mutual enforcement’ arrangements – but that hasn’t yet been endorsed by the party centrally. Jim Allister said voters across Northern Ireland “face a clear choice: endorsement of th.
