Ms Lockhart said: “Portadown District has made an entirely reasonable and unconditional offer to engage in mediation, without pre-conditions.
 
“Sinn Fein’s answer is no. Their Cllr Catherine Nelson could not have been clearer or more obstinate in her contribution, designed to rally a weary nationalist/republican base who have grown suspicious of Sinn Fein’s gaslighting to conceal their failure to deliver on their many grand pronouncements.
 
“‘There will be no talks, ‘mediation or otherwise’ said Cllr Nelson with a rhetorical flourish. That is quite a position for an elected representative to adopt when one side is publicly offering immediate engagement without preconditions.”
 
Carla Lockhart MP added: “But that can no longer be the case. The seismic High Court ruling has exposed unlawful decision-making within the Parades Commission and fundamentally changed the landscape. Sinn Fein cannot simply pretend nothing has happened, take direction from Brendan McKenna and declare that there will be no talks, ‘mediation or otherwise’. A dispute does not become resolved simply because one side refuses to discuss it.
 
“If anything, it is incumbent upon whoever determines the imminent application to take account of the aggressive and obstinate refusal of those opposed to the Church parade to engage. This can no longer be rewarded or incentivised.”
 
“What is particularly striking is how Portadown District has responded, said the MP. “They have every reason to feel deeply aggrieved. They went to court and successfully exposed unlawful decision-making in a process which has restricted their civil and religious liberties.

“Yet their response has not been threats, violence or disorder. They chose the law. They went to court. They won. Their next move has been to extend the hand of dialogue. They are not demanding capitulation or attaching preconditions. They are simply saying, sit down with us and let us see whether this can finally be resolved.
 
“Catherine Nelson is an elected representative, accountable to the people who elected her. Brendan McKenna holds no elected position and is accountable to no electorate. Yet Sinn Fein appears content to allow an unelected individual to pull their strings and effectively determine whether there can even be dialogue on an issue of significant public importance. That raises an obvious question: who exactly is setting Sinn Fein’s position here?”
 
Ms Lockhart continued: “Political leadership should be about encouraging dialogue, lowering tensions and trying to find a peaceful way forward. No unelected individual should be permitted to exercise a permanent veto over dialogue, much less over the civil and religious liberties of others.
 
“I have been absolutely unequivocal in my position. There is no threat of violence or disorder from Portadown District, unionism or loyalism, if a future determination does not go our way. We have chosen the law, not disorder. That position will not change.”
 
She added: “That also raises an important question for the Parades Commission and PSNI: who will be treated more favourably under the law, those who unequivocally commit to remain within it, removing any threat of violence or disorder; or, those who don the linguistic balaclava and threaten disorder or violence if a legal determination does not go their way?
 
“It’s important not to send the message that threats, violence and disorder are to be rewarded. That would be an extremely regressive and dangerous message, and one which all elected representatives would surely wish to avoid.”
 
Carla Lockhart MP added: “Given Sinn Fein’s repeated references to the ‘dark old days’, I again challenge them to give the same unequivocal assurance that has come from the unionist and loyalist community: that there will be no violence, disorder, intimidation or threat of any of those things from republicanism should a lawful future determination permit Portadown District to complete its church parade.
 
“That should be an exceptionally easy assurance for any democratic political party to give.
 
Concluding, the MP said: “The question for Catherine Nelson and Sinn Fein is very simple, why talk about the ‘dark old days’ when you could be talking about a way forward and achieving a peaceful solution which respects the rights and freedoms of all our citizens?
 
“Equality does not and cannot mean that unionism must give, and nationalism must get. Those days are gone!”