Also: DUP and Heaton-Harris in staring match over extra funding as Rishi Sunak rules out coalition with the Unionists at Westminster.
Recent polling shows the party well ahead of both the UUP and the TUV, meaning the current deadlock would simply be reproduced.
Hopes for normal, non-sectarian and growth-focused politics have been dashed as rent-seeking hard-liners dominate at Stormont.
It will give cover to Conservative opponents of the deal. But the crucial question is the future of Stormont, and on that the Unionists are silent.
The most likely way through this impasse is a new agreement, sitting on top of the existing Protocol and introducing a new set of principles on how it operates. Such an agreement must preserve Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.
Getting Stormont up and running for the Belfast Agreement’s anniversary in April seems to be setting the pace, but only the DUP can make that happen.
They didn’t get a surge when the UK Internal Market Act passed and saw only a temporary one after their Supreme Court defeat. What about now?
The Prime Minister has no way of even trying to ensure the dispute is over by April except capitulating to the EU.
Also: having missed his self-imposed deadline of October 28th, Heaton-Harris changes the law to push Stormont vote back to April.
Why has neither he nor Heaton-Harris pushed back against Sinn Fein’s nonsensical claims about ‘joint authority’ with Dublin?
Recent reports that ministers may give European judges a role in Ulster ‘forever’ have stoked fears London aims to cut and run.
I would have preferred a negotiated solution to the sea border, but in the face of EU intransigence the new prime minister must protect the Union.
It is worth remembering that the current backlash would be much worse had the Government not subsequently acted to unilaterally extend ‘grace periods’.
The DUP has suspended checks and Stormont is on the brink of collapse; if Truss cannot secure concessions, Johnson must act.
The Northern Ireland Protocol has been a stone in the shoe of our relations with Brussels and Washington. The Prime Minister deserves great credit for making progress.