“If it’s true what they’re saying on TV, I’m all for it,” said Cliff Moore, 58. “But I’ve not read it and I need to hear straight talking.” Moore did not trust Sunak and was waiting to hear the verdict of unionist leaders.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, had withheld judgment pending study of the text. Jim Allister, leader of Traditional Unionist Voice, a smaller, hardline rival of the DUP, had declared the deal a lot of spin that did not justify restoring the Stormont assembly and executive.
That seemed to sway Moore. “I’d like them to get back around the table [at Stormont] for everyone’s sake. But I’d take Jim’s word for it. He wouldn’t tell me lies.”
The Royal bar, however, hosted a lively debate between some customers. Stanley Duncan, 87, said unionists and loyalists should embrace the deal. “It’s the only one we’ll get. There is nothing else.” If the DUP rejected the compromise, Stormont, which has been mothballed since last year, may never revive, said Duncan.
A 66-year-old customer, who gave his name only as Stephen, said unionists should take time to study the text but he was leaning towards rejection. A reduced role for the European court of justice still left a role, and that meant an alien presence in this corner of the UK, he said. “We are British, not Irish, not semi-Irish.”
He cited another reason to not revive Stormont: the prospect of Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill becoming first minister. “Can you imagine that? Can’t happen.”
Sandy Row Unionists@theGrauniad
Another article quotes Westminster MPs saying the DUP will have to suck it up and sign on to the deal, eventually.