Unionists should hold nerve as UK seeks deal with EU

There is what seems to be a mixed message coming from London over the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

The government continues to insist it wants agreement and if it does not get such it will press ahead with its legislation to overhaul the Irish Sea border. Liz Truss on Thursday told the BBC that any deal must treat east-west trade the same as north-south. This is a pleasing goal that gets to the core of the fundamental injustice that trade within the jurisdiction is penalised over trade with a neighbour which is outside of it.

If the government can get such an arrangement with the EU, that will be a major breakthrough. But it will not negate the need for the protocol bill as protective legislation.

The problem is that the EU might slash checks, which would appear to mean free flow of goods, but still insist on onerous paperwork and maintain legal control of NI trade.

The government, weakened by its disastrous budget, does seem more keen than ever now for an EU deal.

Meanwhile unionists need to hold their nerve. Steve Aiken of the UUP, a party which has been right on many key recent issues (from legacy to a sectarian Irish language act), issued a troubling statement calling for “political parties who are entitled to form an executive” to be in UK-EU talks.

Has Mr Aiken forgotten the SDLP, Sinn Fein and Alliance stances on the protocol? They are hardly likely to endorse a deal that is remotely acceptable to unionists.