Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister will address his party's conference in Cookstown, County Tyrone, on Saturday. He plans to describe Stormont's devolved government as dysfunctional. Allister intends to argue that the institutions feature a legislative assembly that does not legislate except for its own salary increases.

Allister became MP for North Antrim in the 2024 general election. The TUV holds one MP and one assembly member at Stormont, plus local council representatives. The party agreed a formal partnership with Reform UK ahead of that election.

In his speech, Allister will state there should be no executive while the Northern Ireland Protocol exists. He will claim Northern Ireland faces gradual separation from the United Kingdom if the Irish Sea border persists. Allister will call the 2024 deal between the Democratic Unionist Party and UK government a failure that entrenched the protocol.

He will criticise the DUP for sharing power with Sinn Féin in the four-party executive. Allister will say unionism requires unity against the protocol. He will assert that firm opponents of the protocol do not need to change, but others do.

Reform UK MP Danny Kruger is scheduled to speak at the event. Since Brexit, Northern Ireland follows many EU trade and customs rules to prevent a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. These stem from the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework.

Unionists object that extra checks and paperwork on goods from Great Britain weaken Northern Ireland's UK status. The DUP blocked Stormont until ending its boycott in 2024 after a UK government deal.