TUV MP criticised over 'racist' cartoon posted on social media

A cartoon posted by Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister depicting migrants crossing the Irish border on a bus has been described as "racist".

The image is captioned "stop the buses" and shows a vehicle labelled "migrant Express: from Dublin to Northern Ireland".

Alliance MLA Eoin Tennyson said the image was "racist, reckless and irresponsible in the current environment", while his colleague, Alliance MP Sorcha Eastwood, said it was "crass, childish, tabloid-style shock and offence".

But Allister argued the cartoon highlights what he said is "abuse" of the Common Travel Area (CTA) between the UK and Ireland.

The image comes as people had been forced to flee their homes in Belfast amid disorder following a knife attack in the north of the city, last week.

Houses and cars were set on fire and all public transport had been paused in the city.

Sudanese man Hadi Alodid, 30, with an address in Duncairn Avenue in north Belfast, appeared in court charged with attempted murder following the attack.

Alodid travelled from Dublin to Belfast in 2023 and was granted refugee status the same year.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster, North Antrim MP Allister defended the use of the image.

"I think this illustrates the reality of an open border where there's totally unfiltered unchecked migration into the United Kingdom in many instances where people pass through many safe countries before they decide to come to the United Kingdom," he said.

Allister described it as "legitimate" and said the border was being "exploited".

Eastwood said the image was offensive Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated "slop".

"Given the events of the last week I think this AI image is less about immigration... this just comes across as embarrassing and cheap, most people in Northern Ireland just want to get on in life after the awful racist violence that we seen last week."

Allister "forthrightly condemned" the violence but said there was no "connection between legitimately raising issues".

Speaking on the Nolan Show, Tennyson said it was "utterly disgraceful".

He said: "This is evidence that they are not interested in having a debate in measured and evidence based way, they want to whip up tensions, whip up hate and divisions, it is reckless and irresponsible, I think they should remove it and apologise for it.

"The image depicts black and brown people, the same community who were burnt out of their homes last week."

He said it is "inflammatory and it is dangerous in the current environment".

The CTA is an arrangement dating back to 1922 when 26 of Ireland's 32 counties were granted a large degree of independence by the UK. It gives British and Irish citizens reciprocal rights in each others' countries.

Those rights include largely unrestricted, passport-free travel between the UK, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man for British and Irish citizens.

People from other countries need to show a passport - and in some cases a visa - to enter the UK, Republic of Ireland and Crown Dependencies.

Without more formal controls the Irish border is a relatively open immigration route. It is policed under "Operation Gull", a long-running, intelligence-led initiative operated by the UK Home Office, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Police Scotland, and Ireland's police force, the Garda Síochána.

If someone is found without the right documents to be in the CTA they can be detained under UK immigration powers and returned to the Republic of Ireland.

However if that person was to claim asylum then they cannot be deported and would be entered into the UK asylum system while their claim is evaluated.