On 3rd October 2019 current party leader Jeffrey Donaldson was interviewed by Mark Carruthers who pointed out that all the other parties were against the DUP Protocol. Donaldson argued in favour of the Protocol and said the UK govt were on the DUP's side.
This morning Jeffrey Donaldson told
@SophyRidgeSky
DUP never supported the Protocol. As people in NI know this is untrue. Jeffrey was one of the DUP negotiators when they agreed to the Irish Sea Border, without realising the problems that would create.
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Remember the "sensible and balanced" Protocol deal these 3 said the EU better accept or the UK could go for no deal?
The Protocol wasn't imposed on the DUP, the DUP were the reason we ended up with it.
Imagine someone who lives a few miles from you becomes World Champion at something. Imagine then that you completely ignore that because he did so wearing an Ireland vest.
Imagine having that level of sectarianism blinding your every thought.
Donaldson's Loyal adviser.
The woman in the picture with Adams and Biden was notorious for being wanted in the UK for IRA terrorist crimes. Biden is no impartial upholder of either justice or the political process in Northern Ireland
Donaldson has lied on radio just now saying the NI Protocol was costing the NI economy £100,000 every hour. This figure is fiction. It has no basis in fact. The NI economy is outperforming the UK economy and the UK Govt's figures expect the Protocol to reduce the harm of Brexit.
This was the only MP from NI who voted in favour of the Leadsom amendment to cover for Owen Patterson's corruption.
If he's in favour of paid advocacy and corruption he has no place in politics and should resign.
I can't think of a politician who so consistently demonstrates her finger isn't on the pulse. Failed upwards anyway. She backed Johnson the first time (resigned in disgrace), backed Truss (resigned in a record 46 days), backed Johnson again this weekend - poof 💨, he's gone.
If you're a DUP voter please read this. I understand you agree with the DUP position on the Protocol, as is your right. But here's the thing. The DUP are not hurting the EU or the UK Govt by their Assembly absence. There is no leverage. They're just hurting us. You.
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Dear NI Office, if I drive around with a bag of firearms in the boot how long, on average, will it take for me to secure a meeting about the NI Protocol with the Foreign Secretary and the NI Secretary of State?
4 years to the day since these geniuses threatened the EU with no deal and praised the Protocol, which they'd just given the green light to at the Conservative Party Conference.
Don't let them forget.
BREAKING: Groundbreaking deal struck between UK & EU, with Northern Ireland allowed to keep EU Single Market access on condition Sammy Wilson is fired across the Irish Sea Border daily from a cannon.
Emma Little-Pengelly said "Absolutely not true" when John Finnucane said DUP initially backed the Protocol.
Here's their current leader backing it at the time. Did Will Smith neuralize her?
What Jeff-lie meant to say was "No UK supplier had the parts but fortunately, due to Northern Ireland's privileged position of also being in the EU Single Market, the necessary replacements were able to be sourced from Germany."
Whenever you hear people like Diane Dodds or Jim Allister moan about the EU or the NI Protocol please bear in mind that both were DUP MEPs & receive an EU pension which is higher than the average wage in NI. Do you think they send that dirty EU money back?
Next time Donaldson, Allister, Paisley, Wilson, Dodds or any of the other anti-democracy zealots whines about a border in the Irish Sea remind them of this...
Your reminder that Arlene Foster rejected Theresa May's deal that would have meant:
🔹NO Protocol
🔹NO Irish Sea Border
🔹NO checks
Genius at work there...
I apologise for my voluminous Twitter stream today, it must be absolutely jamming people's feeds up. But the TUV's lack of acceptance of how democracy works and the Alliance tidal wave are giving me great joy.
From just before the EU referendum. A reminder that the DUP were completely out of their depth, didn't understand the complexities of Brexit (still don't), and arrogantly dismissed all those who did.
And Loyalists want Unionists to vote for them again!
I've a thread planned that will completely blow up the current DUP position, highlight their part in the Protocol, and their switcheroo at the time. It's based on an excellent newspaper article from 2019. Of course amnesia has descended on all of them since the bad poll.
Soon.
People the DUP won't listen to:
Constituents ✖️
Business ✖️
Farmers ✖️
The Assembly ✖️
The courts ✖️
Parliament ✖️
People the DUP will listen to:
Paramilitary spokesmen ✔️
The Orange Order ✔️
Brexit billionaires✔️
Bin-lids ✔️
No sectarian bigot has ever said "that IS who I am" after getting caught. Saying "that's NOT who I am" when it so obviously IS who you are doesn't wash and is seen for what it is, a retrospective attempt to avoid the bad consequences for yourself because of your actions.
Donaldson and Allister's biggest achievement will be letting a wee lad who has no memory of The Troubles destroy political Unionism in peacetime for likes.
Always blaming someone else for the things they are doing.
Your boycott isn't hurting the EU or the UK Govt. It's just hurting the people of NI, including your voters. You're hurting us for no reason. Punishing us. Grow up and get back to work.
Will there ever be a day in Northern Ireland where we don't have to hear English political journalists interviewing English politicians about NI, and neither of them actually knowing what they're talking about?
The only 2 queues the DUP have been in this year were the one they jumped in Westminster Hall and the one in the Assembly when they queued up to sign the book that made sure they get paid.
Donaldson, lying again, has just said that the House of Lords has to pass the bill without serious amendment or they will be responsible for breaking the Belfast Agreement. A reminder that Donaldson left the UUP to join the DUP because he *opposed* the Good Friday Agreement. 🙄
Sammy Wilson voted for the amendment. The other 7 DUP MPs abstained.
8 MPs who are happy to let corruption go unpunished. 8 MPs who are happy to turn a blind eye to paid advocacy.
Donaldson must be so proud.
A reminder that all 8 DUP MPs voted AGAINST a windfall tax to use in mitigating energy costs just a few weeks ago.
Always at the beck and call of the Tories.
The DUP’s Sammy Wilson criticises Joe Biden as “extremely partisan.”
“Political stability in Northern Ireland is impacted by foreign interference from the EU, backed by foreign interference from the American government and responded to by a spineless Westminster.”
@JuliaHB1
Agenda driven activists and some politicians are pushing a narrative that the Loyalists need to threaten violence as it gets rewarded and linking this tactic to the NI Protocol. Let's see if this is truthful...
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This is my MP. Today he could have stood up against corruption but he chose not to. Way to go Big Gav. I thought you were better than that.
#Corruption
#oneruleforthem
What's the point in anyone from NI trying to attract foreign investment when you have uncontrolled loons insulting the head of the largest economy in the world and his mother?
What CEO would want to set a business up in a country where people elected idiots like that?
Imagine a long political career, where most people took you seriously even if they differed strongly with you, but then blowing it all by letting yourself be boxed into a lose-lose dead-end by a bin-lid who can't even keep the same line of thought for a week.
A well-known blogger has not cast a vote himself today as he's attending a football match.
Know when you're being played folks. It's all about the profile, not the substance. Do as I say, not as I do.
If it turned out, in fact, that you were the first person to warn about threats of republican violence being a factor in UK-EU negotiations which ultimately led to the NI Protocol I suppose you'd now be making a big song & dance to blame it on everyone else too.
Always a tweet.
In a crowded field he has always been at or near the top of Thickest in the DUP table. Credit for his consistency. Never known to think before he speaks.
Despite what the unelected MLA in Lagan Valley is saying today, not only were the DUP not against the Protocol "from inception" they're the reason we have it in the first place.
What a strange coincidence. All the people in this photo have suddenly realised Brexit isn't frictionless, which somehow appears to be the fault of all the people who were telling them that at the time.
Lot of DUP reps crapping themselves this morning, begging Westminster for scraps, while people are about to lose their jobs and projects lose their funding. The same people who trumpeted Project Fear or Remoaners every time concerned people quietly raised a question.
Bastards.
Between them these 4 have 174,000 followers on Twitter alone yet they could only muster 24 viewers. That gives you an indication of how many people are concerned about the Protocol.
Let's correct something here. Nowhere in the DUP AE 2022 manifesto does it say they wouldn't form an Executive. Nowhere. They had no mandate to refuse to do their jobs.
FURTHER BREAKING NEWS:
In a dramatic breakthrough the UK Govt and EU negotiators have found a solution acceptable to everyone - put the DUP in the Irish Sea.
The boat leaves on Monday.
This vote was won 323 to 309.
Had the DUP voted the other way it would have lost 313 to 319, favouring a pay rise for nurses.
This is how they used their influence when they had it.
Don't make the mistake of sending them back to Westminster again.
Rhymes with runts.
Nurses have voted to come out on strike over pay. If you're a nurse or a friend or someone in your family is a nurse please remember that ALL 10 DUP MPs voted against pay rises for nurses in 2017. They voted with the Tories.
Remember that when you vote on December 12th. Please RT
All the smug nodding, threatening EU to take or leave Johnson's deal but if they don't agree DUP would be happy with a no deal Brexit. These 3 were in way over their heads. Unfortunately we're left with the consequences of their incompetence while they blame everybody else.
Listen to the last sentence in this clip from 2nd October 2019, outside the Conservative party conference. Foster says "If the EU reject this then we'll enter into no deal". A gun was being put to the head of other NI parties and business organisations.
I voted for the Good Friday Agreement and I'd vote for it again today. It's not perfect, and nobody got everything they wanted. But that's why it replaced the violence that came before. Compromise isn't a dirty word. Peace is built on its foundations.
No he hasn't. The tweet you've dishonestly quoted states that NI will be given the equivalent under Barnett Consequentials. Unfortunately this can't be distributed in NI BECAUSE THE DUP HAVE WITHDRAWN FROM THE EXECUTIVE.
Tell the truth.
Kate Hoey backed a hard Brexit when her own constituency voted overwhelmingly to remain. She repeatedly ignored her Labour party whip on Brexit related votes. She was rewarded with a peerage by Boris Johnson. She's some neck on her lecturing anybody about loyalty.