‘The EU has used and abused Northern Ireland,’ says DUP’s Chief Whip Sammy Wilson | Conflict Zone

Boris Johnson’s problems are mounting – not least among them the anger of erstwhile supporters in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, over his Brexit deal. The Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed by London and Brussels to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, keeps Northern Ireland bound by some EU trade rules – but in effect puts a trade border between NI and the rest of the UK. That’s a problem for the Democratic Unionist Party, whose chief whip in London, Sammy Wilson, tells DW that Boris Johnson “was not truthful” over the agreement, while the EU have used the protocol and “abused Northern Ireland to try and keep a foot in the door of the UK.” Conflict Zone’s Tim Sebastian also asked Wilson about his party leader meeting a group representing loyalist paramilitaries, and how the DUP would respond to a win by the nationalist party Sinn Fein in the upcoming elections. Will the DUP’s voters punish them for backing Boris?