Jim Allister’s Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) will use its first conference since his historic North Antrim Westminster victory to intensify opposition to post-Brexit trade arrangements. The newly-elected MP will tell supporters in Cookstown that unionism cannot recover “unless and until” the Irish Sea border disappears completely.
Allister, who unseated DUP veteran Ian Paisley in July, will warn the Windsor Framework’s EU single market rules for Northern Ireland are erasing the Union “day by day.” The protocol requires checks on GB-NI goods, with new EU regulations automatically applying in the region a system the TUV leader calls “constitutional vandalism.”
The conference comes as Allister seeks to build a unionist parliamentary alliance against the protocol, urging “practical and visible cooperation” among anti-deal MPs. His stance puts him at odds with both the UK government, which calls the framework Northern Ireland’s “only credible” solution, and his former electoral partners Reform UK.
Though the TUV signed a 2023 pact with Reform that saw Richard Tice share their conference stage, Allister ultimately declined to take the party’s whip after election. He maintains loose cooperation with Reform’s five MPs on issues of mutual interest while keeping his independent status.
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