Jeffrey Donaldson has called for less talk about border polls in 2022.
The under-pressure Democratic Unionist Party leader said talking about a poll on the future of Northern Ireland was “time wasted."
With North voters going to the polls in May, opinion polls suggest that Sinn Féin's Michelle O’Neill could be returned as First Minister of a new Northern Ireland Executive.
Mr. Donaldson is the DUP’s third leader in a year, after the party did away with Arlene Foster and then Edwin Poots during a volatile couple of months back in May and June of last year.
“2022 will be a busy year politically,” the Lagan Valley MP said in a New Year’s message.
And he continued: “We must get Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom restored so we can trade freely again with England, Scotland and Wales, but we must also take courageous decisions to safeguard our hospitals.
“I am up for both. We need fewer conversations about border polls and more conversations about fixing our hospitals and removing the barriers to trade with our main market by value and volume.
“Time spent talking about a border poll is time wasted. More people want Northern Ireland to succeed than fail and it’s time everyone focused on delivery for those people rather than debating a border poll.
“I make no apology for forcing Brussels back to the table on the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Irish Sea border does not work and is not acceptable politically or economically. It is undemocratic and undermines the principles of the Belfast Agreement.”
Donaldson said the election in May would be the “most important election for everyone who lives in Northern Ireland."
“Sinn Féin want to win the election. They want to join with Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon and have a First Ministers Club that is dedicated to the destruction of our United Kingdom. We cannot allow this to happen.”
