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Good morning John

Lagan Valley MLA Emma Little Pengelly and East Antrim MLA Gordon Lyons were in Brussels this week to emphasise the need for a fair and balanced deal for Northern Ireland.

Speaking following meetings, Emma Little-Pengelly said,

“Our overriding objective is seeking to re-establish the Northern Ireland Assembly on a fair and sustainable basis by finishing the job of fully restoring Northern Ireland’s position in the United Kingdom.

We have campaigned to ensure that the Protocol is replaced by arrangements that restore our place within the United Kingdom and those arrangements must be capable of commanding the support of Unionists as well as Nationalists.”

Gordon Lyons said,

“We want to see a return to the delicate political balance within Northern Ireland where the views of unionists are valued and respected and cross-community consensus is the way that we deliver stability and prosperity for all our people.

The outcome of the UK-EU negotiations, the Windsor Framework, while undoubtedly representing significant progress across a number of areas does not deal with some of the fundamental problems at the heart of our current difficulties.”

East Belfast MLA David Brooks was in Boston, speaking to key influences and stakeholders. Speaking from the United States he said,

“Whilst Sinn Fein tour Irish pubs and political offices in Boston, I have been telling the real story of Sinn Fein plans.  They care little about Northern Ireland and unionists. Sinn Fein’s sole focus is on a border poll. 

We have regular engagement with key influencers in the United States. We have sought to rebalance the narrative about unionists in the States and ensure Washington realises that unionists want fairness and what Sinn Féin’s real agenda is. 

We want to see a return to the delicate political balance within Northern Ireland where the views of unionists are valued and respected.  As Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party we have the ultimate responsibility of ensuring we get the right outcome that respects Northern Ireland’s place in the Union for the long-term.

Northern Ireland will struggle to move forward if Republicans have so little respect for their unionist neighbours that they can’t see the problem with the current Protocol arrangements. We would never have expected nor asked our nationalist neighbours to accept the kind of infrastructure north-south that we are being asked to accept east-west.”

Party Conference Tickets are now available on the website.