Unionist leaders hit out at rivals on climate and gender policies in New Year messages
Climate policy and gender ideology are among the issues where local politicians have “lost their way” – and the public want to see common sense on, the DUP leader has said.
Gavin Robinson’s comments in his new year message were echoed by TUV boss Jim Allister – who said his party would oppose the “aggressive transgender offensive” at Stormont.
Both Stormont’s net zero climate policy and the response of individual departments to a Supreme Court ruling in April on the definition of a woman have been a source of debate over the past year.
Despite having backed a local climate change act in 2022 – the DUP and Ulster Unionists have both now called for its targets to be revisited, amid a widespread view that they are unattainable.
Addressing the issue in his new year message, the DUP leader said there is “a growing disconnect in politics between ideology and reality”.
“We see it in climate policy driven by conference culture rather than common sense. Northern Ireland needs practical environmental action that protects jobs and energy security, not dogmatic targets imposed without regard to cost.
“Working families should not be forced to pay higher electricity bills, fuel prices or lose livelihoods so politicians can chase applause on the international stage.
“We see the same disconnect in a political culture increasingly afraid to speak plainly about basic biological facts.
“When leaders cannot affirm simple realities such as what a woman is without ideological caveats, they have lost their way.
“The people of Northern Ireland value common sense, and they are right to expect it from those who govern”, the East Belfast MP said.
TUV leader Jim Allister said that it is “not just constitutional issues” that matter to his party.
“Fighting the woke agenda and particularly the aggressive transgender offensive also matters greatly to TUV.
“2026 will see many such battles as the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and others seek to reverse the effect of the Supreme Court’s acknowledgment of the primacy of biological sex”, the North Antrim MP said.