JIM Allister has urged Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to make good his pledge to collapse devolution amid ongoing negotiations between the British government and the EU over the protocol.
The TUV leader said his DUP counterpart needed to deliver on the ultimatum he gave in September that would see Sir Jeffrey's party walk away from Stormont if its concerns around the post-Brexit trade arrangements were not resolved by the end of this month.
Sir Jeffrey previously signalled that if the British government pressed ahead with Irish language legislation at Westminster while commitments to restore Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market had not been met, then he would crash the institutions and force an assembly election.
A fortnight ago, the DUP leader said EU proposals aimed at easing protocol checks were a "starting point" but fell "far short of the fundamental change needed". Nonetheless, Sir Jeffrey is understood to have agreed to give the two sides time to negotiate, with Lord Frost indicating a Christmas deadline.
While Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said she expects Westminster to begin legislating shortly on a cultural package that includes Irish language provisions, there has yet to be a clear commitment from the British government on the timescale.
Mr Allister said New Decade New Approach (NDNA) pledges about restoring the north's place in the UK internal market by the end of October were "obviously now not going to happen".
"Sir Jeffery was clear that if in October the government didn’t introduce legislation to restore our total position within the UK internal market then he would be ending the farce which is Stormont," the TUV leader said.
"If he backtracks on that then he takes any pressure off the EU because the EU are the people who tell us that the protocol is about protecting the Belfast Agreement."
A DUP spokesperson said: "Our position has not changed. Implementing NDNA in a one-sided manner when the government has not delivered on its own NDNA pledge in relation to protecting Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market is not a sustainable position."
