Responding to Arlene Foster`s claims on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme that the DUP would hold Boris Johnson`s Government to account, Ulster Unionist leader, Steve Aiken OBE MLA said:
“Arlene Foster`s interview with Andrew Marr has further confirmed that the DUP`s blood red line about a border in the Irish Sea was never a red line at all. It was washed away when the DUP supported Boris Johnson`s proposals for a border in the Irish Sea and Border Inspection Posts on 2 October 2019, with Arlene Foster herself describing them as ‘a serious and sensible way forward’.
“As for Arlene`s claims that the DUP ‘will hold the Government to account’ on the maintenance of unfettered access, why would anybody believe them when they couldn`t hold Boris Johnson to account when they could actually do something about it, when they held the balance of power at Westminster? The DUP`s failure to hold the Government to account on 2 October 2019 when it really mattered has rendered their words worthless.
“It`s time for the DUP the cut the bravado and the hubris and acknowledge that they got this badly wrong. We have already had the obscene spectacle of Edwin Poots thanking Arron Banks for getting Northern Ireland into this mess. Whilst on the Marr programme, Arlene Foster failed to directly answer the question about there being a border in the Irish Sea; now we see one of her own MPs, Sammy Wilson, quoting guidance about cross-border travel on Twitter to defend his attendance in Westminster last week. The DUP need to make their mind up where they stand on this.”