Allister accuses SDLP chief of putting nationalism over ‘democratic credentials’

Jim Allister has accused SDLP leader Claire Hanna of valuing the “nationalist reach” of post-Brexit trading arrangements over the “democratic detriment”.

Ms Hanna said the TUV leader was “inserting the dynamism” into conversations around Irish unity as he drove “people to seek to get out of the control of men like him”.

The pair had a heated exchange during the second reading of Mr Allister’s European Union (Withdrawal Arrangements) Bill, which would allow UK ministers to scrap parts of the Windsor Framework deal.

The framework was negotiated by former prime minister Rishi Sunak to mitigate trade concerns in Northern Ireland relating to the previous post-Brexit trade agreements under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Allister claims the framework enables a “democratic deficit” by implementing some EU law in Northern Ireland and creates a border in the Irish Sea.

The MP for North Antrim questioned Ms Hanna on her “democratic credentials” as he compared the protocol arrangements to the terror campaign of the IRA during the Troubles.

He told MPs: “For some – not all – but for some enthusiasts about the protocol arrangement of a nationalist or Irish republican persuasion, there is a political gain here that subsumes all doubts they might have as democrats.

“And it is this: that for 30 years and more, the IRA terrorised through bomb and bullet to try and push the border to the Irish Sea. ‘Brits Out’. Push the border to the Irish Sea. That is precisely what the protocol has done. It has pushed the border to the Irish Sea.”

Ms Hanna shouted “shame on you”, to which Mr Allister said: “Now (Ms Hanna) may from a sedentary position object, but the challenge to her is: is her nationalism more important to her than her democratic credentials?

“How can (Ms Hanna) – who calls herself a social democratic and labour member – how can you look her constituents in the eye and say, ‘I believe you are not worthy to have your laws made by those you elect, and I would rather they are made by those you don’t elect’?

“Is it because the nationalist reach of the protocol is more important than the democratic detriment of the protocol?”

In her reply, Ms Hanna referred to the DUP’s boycott of devolved government in Northern Ireland in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements, which was supported by the TUV.

The MP for Belfast South and Mid Down asked the TUV leader if he would set out the change in the “level of support for the Union before and after he began his Brexit adventures”.

She continued: “He will know that I, as a democrat, constitutionally compromised every single day because I am a democrat and I am an adult, and I live in a constitutional reality that is not as my choosing.

“I’m an Irish person living and working and upholding democracy in the United Kingdom.

“He will also know that none of his arguments about democratic deficit stand in any way when his campaign suppressed the Northern Ireland Assembly, the legitimate expression and place of primary law making for Northern Ireland, and when he created an enormous health sea border in the Irish Sea.

“His adventures, his hobby horses, have created a scenario where one-third of the population of Northern Ireland is on a health waiting list.

“I, and others who don’t like exactly the way our constitutional arrangements are made, stand up every day and work to solve those problems. All he wants to do is create them.

“It is his actions, in fact, that are inserting the dynamism in the question about constitutional change. Every time he pulls a stunt like this, he drives more people to seek to get out of the control of men like him.

“I, as a democrat, every day I accept, the constitutional reality I accept, we’re members of the United Kingdom. I’m seeking to change that democratically, so he will never again question my commitment to democracy in Northern Ireland.”