Jim Allister distances himself from Nigel Farage's views on Russia - but says Reform pact is an opportunity for Unionism

Jim Allister said Nigel Farage has made some "dubious utterances" about Northern Ireland.

In a BBC leaders’ interview, Mr Allister also said that there is an opportunity for unionism in the arrangement between his party and Reform UK.

The TUV leader made clear he does not agree with Mr Farage on certain issues – saying that the pact does not extend to issues such as Foreign Policy.

Asked if he agreed with Mr Farage that NATO “poked the bear, provoked Russia into its invasion of Ukraine”- Mr Allister said: “No I do not.

“My agreement with Reform is on a limited number of issues. It does not include foreign affairs. And certainly if that is Nigel’s view – it is not my view.

“I think that the aggressor is Putin. I think he deliberately and consciously decided to supress and subjugate a free people in Ukraine. And that the free world should be standing with those people who he is trying to supress”.

Mr Farage told GB News in 2022 “Yes we know the Russian can be paranoid, but why poke the Russian bear with a stick? If Vladimir Putin's one demand is that we state clearly that Ukraine is not going to join Nato, why don't we do it?”.

The TUV leader told the Talkback programme that unionism has been “far too parochial for far too long” and said the alliance with Reform UK was an opportunity for a “pan-unionist reach into the United Kingdom that really is the value, moving forward, of that relationship”.

“The Chairman of Reform UK Richard Tice has phoned me to regret how things have worked out – and to reaffirm the firmness of our relationship”.

He said the initial intent was that some candidates would run under a TUV banner on the ballot paper – and some as Reform UK. The TUV boss said that the Electoral Commission ruled that because Reform is not registered as a political party here, there cannot be a joint logo on the ballot paper.

However, Jim Allister said that the parties will continue to have a joint logo on election literature and posters.

Interviewer William Crawley said that the DUP were “raising questions” about the parties’ logos. Mr Allister said “Well the DUP were wrong about that as they’ve been wrong about telling us the Irish Sea border was gone”.

Rejecting a suggestion that he had been personally betrayed, Mr Allister said “It doesn’t matter about Jim Allister. What matters to me is whether or not this Union continues. This Union of the United Kingdom.

“At the moment it’s in detachment. It’s being dismantled day by day, by a Protocol which puts a border in the Irish Sea. Which decrees GB in trade terms to be a foreign country – those are the issues that matter and those are the issues that I am focused on”.

The TUV leader declined to say how much money Ben Habib would donate to the party – but said that it would all be published at the appropriate time.

He also said the UK is “fast approaching” the point where EU law is overriding the will of Parliament – therefore it is time to “reassess and call time on that”.

He said that if a sovereign parliament is being overruled by a foreign court “it is for Parliament to decide if they are sovereign or if they are not”.

On questions about the record of Reform UK politicians on the Protocol, Mr Allister said “it’s where you end up on the Protocol, not where you started”.

The record of Reform UK politicians such as Nigel Farage and Ben Habib has been repeatedly questioned by the DUP. When they were Brexit Party MEPs, they backed the Protocol by virtue of voting for the EU Withdrawal deal in Brussels.

After welcoming Nigel Farage’s endorsement of his campaign earlier this week, DUP East Antrim candidate Sammy Wilson told the News Letter “I’m not too sure what Nigel’s stance on the protocol was in the European Parliament. I don’t know if he voted for it or not”. He then accused Reform deputy leader Ben Habib of endorsing the Windsor Framework.

That claim was emphatically rejected by Mr Habib: “Sammy is talking nonsense. I denounced the Windsor Framework within a day or so of it being published. I did so in the News Letter!”