DUP's Ian Paisley Jr says Labour Party treats Northern Ireland better than Tories

In an exclusive interview, the MP for North Antrim told GB News that he believes the Labour Party has always provided a "better deal" for Northern Ireland than the Conservatives.

The DUP MP also said keeping the Prime Minister's attention on Northern Ireland has been difficult, and that Boris Johnson is leading a party becoming more and more like an "English nationalist party" than one speaking for the whole UK.

"Anytime we've had a Labour prime minister or a Labour secretary of state, they've understood Northern Ireland, usually better,” Mr Paisley told Gloria De Piero.

Ian Paisley MP in conversation with GB News presenter Gloria De Piero

"Their bark has been worse than their bite you might say.

"We've always kind of had the fear, 'will Labour take us in a particular direction closer to a united Ireland?' But their bark about that and their actual bite has been very, very different."

When asked if he trusted Boris Johnson to find a solution to the issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol, the 55-year-old said he was "really sceptical" about trusting anyone in politics.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (centre) attends a service to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh in October 2021.
Liam McBurney

"We can only trust the people, that they will hopefully elect sensible people, and then that we can trust those people to respond positively to the messages and the political policies that we have,” he stated.

"But the idea that I'm trusting this particular politician, I think those days have long since gone."

The DUP MP told GB News Northern Ireland needs to be brought before the Prime Minister “before things go bad again”.

Unionist and loyalist communities have both demonstrated their ire over the Irish Sea border that came as a result of the Protocol.

Mr Paisley also claimed the Tory Party is turning into an "English nationalist party" that fails to grasp what's happening in the rest of the union.

"Yes, the Conservatives call themselves the Conservative and Unionist Party, but I believe that the Conservative Party today is becoming more and more an English nationalist party that doesn't really understand what's going on in Scotland, certainly in Northern Ireland, and in other regions,” he commented.

"And we've got to, and I've got to, try and encourage them and educate them and help them to understand."

He went on: "We're not little Englanders, trying to be little Englanders. We're proud Northern Ireland people who have an identity of their own and you've got to understand it and govern on that basis."