Defiant Donaldson blasts bully boys...
JEFFREY Donaldson said yesterday he will not be “deflected” after telling MPS he had been threatened over his efforts to reach a deal to restore Stormont.
The DUP leader hit out at those responsible adding he checked the electoral register to find one of them “didn’t even vote at the last election”.
He also took aim at the TUV asking what Jim Allister’s party had “delivered” in terms of changing the Protocol.
Mr Donaldson was speaking as the Commons debated a bill to extend the deadline for restoring devolution to February 8.
The Executive has not met for 23 months thanks to a DUP boycott. He told MPS: “A unionism that turns in on itself is not the way to go.
“I was threatened by those who never put on a uniform, by those who haven’t served our country and when I checked out one of the people who threatened me, they weren’t even on the register. They didn’t vote at the last election.
“They can’t even come out to vote for our future in the Union. Yet they’re threatening people like me who are working day and night to find solutions.”
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RETURN
The move to legislate for an extension is aimed at giving the DUP more time to decide whether to return to power-sharing amid speculation a deal to get the DUP back into Stormont is afoot.
If there is still no Executive, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-harris will be under a legal duty to call an election, but it is understood he may instead put new governance arrangements in place including a greater role for London.
The Irish government should have an enhanced role in the governance of Northern Ireland if the Stormont powersharing institutions cannot be restored, Sinn Fein MP John Finucane said last night.
In his speech, the DUP leader said he would “continue on course” and work to reach a decision and “further changes” would come as a result of his party’s actions.
Mr Donaldson added: “What has the TUV delivered by way of change to the Protocol – not a single thing.”
Its leader Mr Allister said his party had “no apology” to make for keeping focus on the “dire constitutional consequences of the union-dismantling Protocol”.
He added if the DUP “backslides into becoming Protocol implementers” his party would “not hesitate to act”.
Mr Allister said: “Our mission is to ensure they don’t, but if they do, then we will not be deterred from continuing to tell the truth about the iniq
What has the TUV delivered by way of change to the Protocol? Not a single thing
uitous Protocol.” Mr Heaton-harris may have to legislate for light-touch direct rule if Stormont does not return.
Sir Jeffrey told the Commons that others were attempting to “orchestrate opposition to a deal that has not yet taken place”.
He added: “The fact we’re sat here today in the Commons extending legislation reflects the reality that no agreement has yet been reached.
“There are some who, for their own narrow purposes, are putting it about that certain things have been agreed and they know it’s there.
“But I say this – wait until an agreement is reached before you make your final verdict.”
Sir Jeffrey added there was a “tiny minority” of people who did not want Stormont back and would prefer “imperfect direct rule than an imperfect Stormont”.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said those who threatened Sir Jeffrey “couldn’t lace his boots”.
Speaking in the Commons, the MP for Foyle said: “[Sir Jeffrey] and I haven’t agreed on very much recently, in fact he kind of drives me crazy and we don’t agree on much of what we’ve debated today or over the past couple of years.
“But I do strongly believe he comes at this from a position of strong belief. He comes at it in an attempt to represent his constituents, he comes at it from a good place.
“It’s a different place than me, and we want to end up in a different place, and maybe I would argue he’s helping us along in that regard.
“But I do say this very clearly, those people who have threatened him today couldn’t lace his boots and every single democrat in this House or elsewhere should stand in solidarity with any of us who are being attacked like that.”
Earlier, former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith added the DUP “seem to have negotiated a very good deal on issues around the Windsor Framework”.