TUV responds to Peter Robinson criticism saying DUP lost seats in 2019 without an Allister challenge

Mr Robinson – whose last major intervention was to encourage unionists to bank the "very substantial" progress secured by Safeguarding the Union and restore the Assembly – also said that “large portions of the unionist base are disaffected and disconnected” but did not offer an analysis as to what politicians had done to create this.

The TUV hit back at the former DUP boss’s comments saying: “The last the public heard from Peter Robinson he was telling us how great the Donaldson Deal was. Not even the DUP attempt that any more.

“It is also a pity that he wasn’t vocal when he learned that the DUP rejected TUV’s proposal last year for a one unionist candidate per seat, because their egos couldn’t contemplate such and pity they splintered the unionist unity against the Protocol by disavowing the united unionist declaration of unalterable rejection of the Protocol.

“Significantly, when the TUV stayed out of the 2019 general election the DUP lost two seats with no one to blame but themselves.

“Of course, Mr Robinson should be the last man to point the finger accusing people of damaging unionist representation as his brainchild of reducing Assembly seats cost Unionism 16 MLA seats”.

At the weekend, Peter Robinson said that everyone has a right to stand in a democracy, but then slammed “spoilers” – “intentional vote-splitting candidates who can’t win, and they know it”.

He added: “But winning is not their aspiration or objective. They are contesting the seat with the deliberate intention of impeding and hindering the main unionist candidate from winning even though they know they are, at one and the same time, helping Sinn Fein and its allies to win.

“When their hatred of another unionist is greater than their love of the Union they should be rejected and despised.

“They are feckless, reckless, and politically blinkered. Whatever we may think of them, the die has been cast, and nominations have closed and the ballot papers printed”.

Acknowledging that “Large portions of the unionist base are disaffected and disconnected”, Mr Robinson said the blame for that shouldn’t be “dumped at the feet of discontent unionist non-voters. Far from it. The job of politicians is to motivate, persuade, and inspire their electorate and instil hope and confidence in them. Yet at a time when the Union is in peril, the bottom line is that unionism badly needs a win. So, here’s the rub. The only expression of a unionist victory will be found in winning seats”.

It is his first major intervention in politics since the return of devolution.

On the day of Stormont’s return in February, Mr Robinson has claimed that opponents of the deal were talking “nonsense”. He said “it is a sensible way to go forward. Bank all of the very considerable improvements that Sir Jeffrey and his team have been able to achieve and move forward to get even more. He has carried a very heavy load. The burden should be shared by other unionists rather than adding to it”.

The previous day, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson had dismissed the legal opinion of former NI Attorney General John Larkin which said that the deal did not remove the Irish Sea border or meet key DUP tests. He said: “While Jim [Allister] delivers someone else’s opinion, I’m delivering change for everyone in Northern Ireland”.