Ulster Unionist Leader Steve Aiken OBE MLA said:
“It is deeply regrettable that at the DUP manifesto launch, their Party Leader at no point acknowledged the DUP`s role in leading Northern Ireland into the economic and constitutional mess which it now faces, with Boris Johnson`s Brexit deal.
“The DUP weren`t just idle bystanders here. They were in partnership with the Conservative government and told everyone after the last Westminster election that they had never had so much influence in Parliament. Unfortunately we can now see where that influence has got us.
“We now face the prospect of having to complete customs forms for goods coming into Northern Ireland from the rest of our own country, and our Health Service is in need of emergency intervention. Can you imagine what Arlene Foster would be saying if any other unionist leader had delivered this?
“Arlene Foster said today, "the DUP is committed to a deal that works for the whole of the UK and which does not leave Northern Ireland behind, with no border in the Irish Sea." If that`s the case, why did the DUP support Boris Johnson`s regulatory border in the Irish Sea on the 2 October - with Arlene Foster even praising it as a ‘serious and sensible way forward’ - after promising the electorate that they wouldn`t?
“The DUP had a monopoly as the representatives of Unionist opinion in the House of Commons over the last two years and they blew it. Northern Ireland can`t economically and constitutionally afford to have the DUP as the only voice of Unionism in the House of Commons after these elections.”