Loyalist letter is a cause for concern

THERE is no doubt that working class loyalists and unionists are concerned about the effects of the Northern Ireland protocol. Whether that anxiety is justified is another question altogether or has tension in the province been ratcheted up to save the face of those who supported Brexit without considering what the consequences might be.

Whatever the cause, the letter sent to the Prime Minister by the Loyalist Communities Council saying that the loyalist groups its represents – including the UDA and UVF – are withdrawing support from the Good Friday Agreement is a further worrying development.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne says that on his initial reading of the situation he does not believe there will be any imminent return to violence by loyalist paramilitaries.

However, history has shown us that when the political tension rises there is always a possibility that the men of violence will make a reappearance.

There have been many assurances and indeed calls for all opposition to the protocol to be conducted in a peaceful and democratic manner and that is to be welcomed, but nothing can ever be taken for granted in a province where division has never properly been healed.

The Prime Minister appears somewhat dismissive of the letter saying that any problems with the protocol are eminently solvable with a modicum of common sense and goodwill.

That is undoubtedly true of the technical difficulties over trade between GB and Northern Ireland, but what began as a dispute over red tape because the province has remained within the EU customs union and single market unlike the rest of the UK, has been conflated into a threat to the union.

That is a suggestion which has always raised the temperature in unionist/loyalist areas. One thing is paramount – we cannot allow paramilitaries to set the political agenda.

While Boris Johnson is hoping that the UK and EU can sort out the difficulties with the protocol without dismantling it, he has hardly won any friends in Europe by his unilateral extension of the grace periods which limit the amount of red tape associated with trade in agri-food products between GB and NI.

What his action does achieve is to buy time to find a more stable resolution to the current difficulties.

However, we must be careful in placing too much trust in the current British government which has repeatedly shown – not least to unionists over the establishment of the protocol – that its word is not necessarily its bond.