The Northern Ireland Tories are in disarray over the Irish Sea border, says ex chairman
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Multi-millionaire businessman Alan Dunlop said that members were “leaving in droves” in protest at the national party’s position on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Dunlop said: “The membership roll stood at about 650 in January last year, but that is now hovering at around 500. If this slide continues, I expect we will see many more members exiting.
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Hide Ad“There’s an inevitability about this implosion. The government has failed to safeguard Northern Ireland’s position within the Union by acquiescing on the protocol.”
![Northern Ireland Conservatives at their manifesto launch in late November 2019 for the December general election of that year. Earlier that month Boris Johnson had told them they could throw export declaration forms in the bin. NI Tories seemed to stand by the prime minister in the year or so after the protocol deal, but are now said to be leaving the party](https://www.newsletter.co.uk/webimg/TUFZMTM4MDU0OTMy.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
![Northern Ireland Conservatives at their manifesto launch in late November 2019 for the December general election of that year. Earlier that month Boris Johnson had told them they could throw export declaration forms in the bin. NI Tories seemed to stand by the prime minister in the year or so after the protocol deal, but are now said to be leaving the party](/img/placeholder.png)
He said that successive UK ministers’ failure to negotiate away the protocol in talks with EU had increased disillusionment amongst Northern Ireland Conservatives.
“Twenty-five years of republican terrorism failed to wrench Northern Ireland out of the Union, but our own Conservative government, in one senseless move, has achieved what the bomber and gunman failed to achieve.
“I would expect Northern Ireland Conservatives to be in disarray and disheartened right now and probably feeling abandoned by their own party. It is a shameful position,” Mr Dunlop added.
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Hide AdThe News Letter put Mr Dunlop’s claims to the Northern Ireland Conservatives.
![Alan Dunlop, the former chairman of the Northern Ireland Conservatives](https://www.newsletter.co.uk/webimg/TUFZMTM4MDQ0NjY1.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
![Alan Dunlop, the former chairman of the Northern Ireland Conservatives](/img/placeholder.png)
Matthew Robinson, chair of the NI Conservatives, responded: “The party does not comment on the views of former members.”