‘Bryson bounce’ not in Northern Ireland’s interests, says DUP leader

DUP leader Gavin Robinson has criticised a “willingness to cause discord within the wider unionist community” after a poll showed a surge in support for Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson.

Mr Robinson said a “Bryson bounce” was “not in the interests of Northern Ireland” and insisted his party is united in their response to ongoing fallout from the Drumcree parading dispute.

The DUP leader was speaking after a LucidTalk poll rated him as the least popular Unionist leader, as compared to Mr Bryson who was ranked the most popular.

In the same survey, Sinn Féin polled at 28% of the electorate’s first preference vote in an assembly election, up six percentage points.

Support for the DUP is down one percentage point to 14% in the LucidTalk poll, one behind unionist rivals the Ulster Unionist Party, which has also experienced a one percentage point drop.

The Traditional Unionist Voice party, which has strongly advocated a collapse of the Executive in response to Sinn Féin’s participation in the Garvaghy Road protest, has seen its support rise two percentage points to 14%.

The polling numbers come in the aftermath of the Drumcree parading dispute, which has seen Sinn Féin vice president and First Minister Michelle O’Neill being interviewed by police in relation to her participation in an allegedly unlawful protest on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown in September that was held to try to block an Orange Order parade from Drumcree Church proceeding down the predominantly nationalist road.

The fallout from the row has had political consequences at Stormont, with DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly having stopped joint engagements with Ms O’Neill.

Mr Bryson, who was also legal adviser to the Portadown district of the Orange Order, was a major driver of the lodges challenge to the Parades Commission who ruled to rerouted the Drumcree march for nearly 30 years, and has been a vocal advocate in pushing the DUP to remove Ms Little-Pengelly from office in order to remove Ms O’Neill.

Asked by reporters at Stormont about Mr Bryson’s popularity in recent polling, Mr Robinson said: “When you don’t have any responsibility, you can say and do whatever it is you want.

“You can lead people down a blind alley, you can give Sinn Féin the ‘Bryson bounce’, but it’s not in our interests.

“It’s not in the interests of Northern Ireland, nor is it in the interests of people who believe in Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom.

“And you know, despite all of the colour and the commentary that you’ve seen over the last number of weeks, our party is united.

“United in anger at the arrogance of Sinn Féin, united in the plan we have not only to thwart their agenda in this place, but to stand up and be responsible for the people of Northern Ireland.”

Asked if he believed Mr Bryson was ‘leading people down alleys’ he said: “I can see very clearly that the disunity that has been created by agitators works to Sinn Féin’s advantage, and yet the focus should be on their arrogance and their law breaking.

“That the willingness to cause discord within the wider unionist community doesn’t help any of us that believe in Northern Ireland and its place in the United Kingdom. It helps our main detractors.

“I was clear a few weeks ago, I think they’ve given up on devolution. I think they were goading unionists into taking action that would benefit them and harm our collective ability to deliver for Northern Ireland and so you can see that which was predicted is coming to pass.

“My responsibility, our responsibility, and our collective will, our determined will, is to ensure that won’t happen.

“So the ‘Bryson bounce’ that’s been talked about was predictable. It’s as predictable as it is damaging, but it’s not going to define unionism, nor the aspiration of everyone in Northern Ireland who recognises that our best place is within this United Kingdom.”

UUP leader Jon Burrows opened his remarks at Stormont with a “big, broad offer to the unionist community at large and unionist politicians” urging them to join his party.

“I don’t think unionism has been particularly well led over the last two decades,” he said.

“There’s been strategic gaffes, there’s been crocodile moments – we now need change.

“Yes, I want to appeal for more cooperation across unionism, but I believe the Ulster Unionist Party is the party that can secure the union for the long term and make this place successful and thrive and outsmart Sinn Féin, who I’m afraid are laughing at the moment at some errors that unionism has made.”

Mr Burrows said he would not be “spilling the beans” about the contents of a meeting he had with DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley over the weekend.

“I meet people all the time, I have private conversations. That’s the way they’ll stay,” he said.

“And you know what? My message to other unionists, by the way, on the wider issue of cooperation and unity, is this: I’m sick of hearing it litigated in the media.

“We need to have private discussions about issues, and they should stay private.”

TUV leader Jim Allister said there are “fundamentals upon which we can all agree”, namely on the “necessity and the advantage of remaining wholly within the United Kingdom”.

“We have differences of opinion as to whether it helps that process by having at the heart of government a party whose dedication is to destroy the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland’s part in it, or whether it doesn’t,” he said.

“So I think there are issues there, but if you’re hinting at the issue of unions’ cooperation on that fundamental, I don’t think there’s anything to dispute.”