Responding to a letter from the Loyalist Communities Council, UUP Leader Doug Beattie MC MLA said:

"I read the words in the letter with a sense that a section of unionism is condemned to keep repeating the mistakes of the past.  Quite simply it is the words of unionism in retreat, not the confident presentation of our argument which will win out on the Protocol.  It is the school of thought which sees unionism return to the table in a weaker position each time.  

“The Ulster Unionist Party has been unequivocal in our opposition to the Protocol since it first emerged in Boris Johnson’s proposals to the EU on 2 October 2019.  While the DUP were forced to play catch up after realising the folly of these proposals having initially welcomed them as a “serious and sensible way forward”, the Ulster Unionist Party was sounding the alarm that they amounted to “playing Russian roulette with the future of the United Kingdom”.  Now those who created this mess by pursuing Brexit without a plan are trying to make others the fall guys for their mistakes.

“We will make no apology for spending the last three years making our case wherever it needed to be heard.  We will continue to engage with the United Kingdom Government, the Irish Government, the European Union and the US State Department to make sure they are in no doubt about why the Northern Ireland Protocol is unacceptable to unionists and is a bad deal for Northern Ireland.  The evidence of this being the right approach is there for all to see in proposals made by us being adopted by the UK Government in their Command Paper, in the European Union coming back to the negotiating table and in the change in position from Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance who once called for “rigorous implementation” of the Protocol now forced to acknowledge its faults.

“The Ulster Unionist Party totally rejects any notion of moving back to pre-ceasefire days and will resist anyone who seeks to take us back there.  The days of men and women being sent to fill jail cells or early graves in this country should be over.  Peace and political process are the only way to advance our argument, be in no doubt of that.

“Finally, if the LCC would like to acknowledge who or what is to blame for Sinn Fein holding the post of First Minister then they should look no further than the DUP’s negotiating prowess at St Andrew’s.  That unionism should be the majority designation in the Assembly, but not fill the office of First Minister is a failure they have to explain.”