DUP MLAs Edwin Poots and Gordon Lyons as well as MPs Gavin Robinson and Gregory Campbell were part of the DUP delegation.
Sir Jeffrey said,
“Our institutions are not based on majority rule, they are based on consensus and powersharing. Progress is only made in Northern Ireland with the support of unionists and nationalists. Unionism has rejected the NI Protocol. No unionist MLA supports it.
With no unionist support, the NI Executive cannot be formed until the Irish Sea border is removed.
The Government has talked tough, but the people who voted on Thursday are not interested in words, they want to see the Government act and defend this part of the United Kingdom and defend the democratic institutions in Stormont.
No more can anyone stand at the Dispatch Box and argue that the Northern Ireland Protocol is protecting peace and stability in Northern Ireland. The people have spoken.
Every unionist candidate standing in the election stood in opposition to the protocol and attracted some 360,000 votes. 40% of all votes cast were explicitly for parties who opposed the Protocol. Given that the political institutions in Northern Ireland operate on the basis of cross-community consensus, the lack of any unionist support for the protocol means that it is unworkable as it does not command sufficient consensus.”
