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Stormont is dysfunctionalism on stilts, says TUV leader

Brendan HughesPolitical reporter, BBC News NI
Liam McBurney/PA TUV leader Jim Allister is an older man with fair hair. He is wearing a dark jacket and tie which is black with white spots and a white shirt. There is a badge on his left lapel which is red with white lettering. He is standing in front of a beige background.Liam McBurney/PA
TUV leader Jim Allister addressed his party conference in County Tyrone on Saturday

Stormont's devolved government is "dysfunctionalism on stilts", the leader of Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) told his party conference.

Jim Allister also reiterated his party's long-held concerns over the impact of post-Brexit trade barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Northern Ireland will be "sleepwalked out of the United Kingdom" if the Irish Sea border remains in place, he said during his speech on Saturday.

Among the speakers at the event in Cookstown, County Tyrone, was the Reform UK MP Danny Kruger.

Since Brexit, Northern Ireland has continued to follow many European Union trade and customs rules to avoid a hard land border with the Republic of Ireland.

The arrangements were agreed between the UK and EU under deals known as the Northern Ireland Protocol and later the Windsor Framework.

But unionists have raised concerns that the rules - which have involved extra trade checks and paperwork for goods coming from Great Britain - undermine Northern Ireland's place within the UK.

Stormont's power-sharing executive had been blocked by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in protest, but they ended their boycott in 2024 after a deal with the UK government.

In his conference speech, Allister said "there should be no executive as long as the protocol exists".

"Leave the protocol and the dopes in Stormont in place and we will be sleepwalked out of the United Kingdom," he said.

"Even President Trump can see it as he jokes about a merger."

Allister said the "dud" deal between the DUP and UK government in 2024 has "cemented the protocol".

DUP expected to be criticised

Jim Allister is wearing a suit and talking on a platform. He's looking to his side at a large screen. The screen shows an image of Allister with the union flag behind him.
In his conference speech, Allister was critical of the post-Brexit trade agreements

The TUV leader also described the Stormont institutions as "dysfunctionalism on stilts".

He argued they involve a "legislative assembly that doesn't legislate - apart from their own salary rise".

Allister also criticised the DUP sharing power with Sinn Féin as part of Northern Ireland's four-party executive.

"The choice is not Stormont or soon to be gone Starmer, but enabling Sinn Féin or dumping Sinn Féin - pandering to Sinn Féin or facing down Sinn Féin," he said.

On the issue of cooperation with other unionist parties, he said "unionism should be united" in opposition to the "iniquitous protocol".

"It is not those of us who have stood firm who need to return to the ground of unity, but those who stepped away."

The TUV has one MP and one assembly member at Stormont as well as elected representatives at local council level in Northern Ireland.

Allister became MP for North Antrim in the 2024 general election, unseating the DUP's Ian Paisley.

Earlier that year, TUV agreed a formal "partnership" with Reform UK for the general election.

Danny Kruger is on a platform speaking. One had is gesturing as he speaks. A union flag is on a screen behind him. He's wearing a suit.
Reform UK MP Danny Kruger said the previous Conservative government's deal with the EU "broke faith with Northern Ireland and the whole of the UK"

Speaking at the TUV conference, Reform UK MP Danny Kruger described Northern Ireland as the "unfinished business of Brexit".

He said the NI Protocol was "always understood to be flawed and sub-optimal" and the Windsor Framework "made it permanent".

The MP said the previous Conservative government's deal with the EU "broke faith with Northern Ireland and the whole of the UK".

He called for a new deal that "respects our sovereignty".