The Irish protocol.

It was obvious who francie was referring to but DC chooses to have another rant and deflect. Good luck appeasing these people when thay can't acknowledge when they're wrong.

Nah, you miss the point. Downcow was actually correct about this.

Francie's statement is like saying that 33% of the people in the South supported the PIRA in the 1970s because Sinn Fein got 33% in a poll this week.

At the time they opposed the GFA, the DUP were not the largest unionist party. The vast majority of unionism supported the GFA. Trying to paint it as otherwise, as Francie is doing, is just blatant revisionist history.

The majority of Unionists currently vote for a party that did not support and did not sign the GFA. That isn't revision, it is a fact. We know that at the time of the GFA, 43% of Unionists who voted opposed it with 57% voting in favour of it. That doesn't change the fact that the most popular Unionist party did not support the GFA, which is what Francie actually said. Any analysis beyond that is just spin.

A few weeks ago, when LCC announced their withdrawal of support for the GFA, Jeffrey Donaldson himself said that Unionist support for the GFA was diminishing rapidly, suppose you may tell him he's wrong too.

You STILL haven't pointed out what it was I said that was untrue.

All you have done is show that that bit of uncomfortable history embarrasses you.

“The Protocol blows the door of the hinges, thus bypassing the apparent protections against trespass. And therein lies the core problem which simply can not be reconciled by the Government and proponents of the Protocol.”

I wouldn’t be too two to worried about someone who doesn’t know the difference between off and of .

Any chance you can tell me what was untrue about what I said?

Did 'Unionists" try to bring down both agreements'?

Yes they did...that will be a true statement for all time.

I would bet you a pint and a chaser that the applicants do not ultimately succeed but, as I live in Australia and travel restrictions prevent me coming to Ireland, I couldn't collect (or pay up, if came to that) in the foreseeable future. So it'll have to be a virtual bet.

But don't mistake Bryson and his chums for "unionism"; it's a diverse movement, and they're not the whole of it. The UUP seems to me to be moving cautiously in the direction of a more realistic assessment of NI's best interests in the current situation. They may be doing this because they genuinely feel some duty to act in NI's best interests, or because they hope to outflank the DUP and recover some of the support they have lost in the past two decades, or possibly even for both reasons. Whatever the motivation, the shift is welcome.

The majority of Unionists vote for a party now that did not support and did not sign the GFA back then.

Now compare that to this. The majority of Nationalists vote for a party now that supported a terrorist campaign killing their neighbours back then.

Both of those statements are true, but neither of them are relevant to any current discussion around the PIRA, the GFA or the Irish Protocol. In fact, they just flame the discussion.

What is true and relevant is that the most popular Unionist party at the time supported the GFA, and the most popular Nationalist party at the time rejected the PIRA.

So Francie's statement is just spin against the Unionist community. As for support for the GFA, it is diminishing, and that is true on both sides. You only have to look at the number of nationalist politicians who ignore the GFA restrictions in calling for a border poll now.

Francie's statement was completely true in every word.

Yourself and downcow's umbrage is the same though.

Would be interesting if it came to pass - stranger things have happened.

If the Protocol is deemed illegal and invalid domestically, I suspect the UK thinks it gets to just walk away from it but keep everything else otherwise as is.

Except, that's not the EU's problem - that was up to the UK negotiating team to know what was and was not possible. To not, is either bad faith negotiation or downright incompetence. Neither of which are grounds to be allowed walk away from what they signed up to.

So, if the Protocol is breached then the TCA will fall as a matter of course.

We could see a true test of the Union faced with that set of circumstances - the Protocol or the Act of Union will decide the fact fate of the overall Brexit TCA deal.

And if they think they can turn to the world stage and seek sympathy because of the EU holding them to the Protocol regardless, they're going to need one hell of a negotiating team to convince any country the world over that it's worth negotiating with the UK at all.

EDIT: Typo