UUP dismisses call for civil disobedience

THE UUP last night called for “cool heads” after a leading Orangeman told the BBC that unionists should consider “civil disobedience” to fight the Prime Minister’s Brexit proposals for an “Irish Sea border”. Mervyn Gibson said any protest needed to be lawful. But the Ulster Unionists said: “It didn’t work in the late 1980s to bring an end to the Anglo Irish Agreement and it didn’t work in more recent times regarding the City Hall flag protests.” Belfast PUP councillor and prominent loyalist Billy Hutchinson also questioned the strategy.

THE Ulster Unionists last night poured cold water on a senior Orangeman’s call for a campaign of civil disobedience against Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans for Northern Ireland.

Leading Orangeman Mervyn Gibson told the BBC’s The View programme last night that unionists should consider “civil disobedience” to fight the Prime Minister’s Brexit proposals for Northern Ireland.

The Orange grand secretary said he was speaking in a personal capacity.

But a UUP spokesman last night warned that the tactic had proved ineffective in the past.

“Lessons must be learned from the past in terms of civil disobedience and street protest,” he said.

“It didn’t work in the late 1980s to bring an end to the Anglo Irish Agreement and it didn’t work in more recent times regarding the City Hall flag protests.”

The spokesman said that his party was opposed to Mr Johnson’s Brexit plans for Northern Ireland, saying that unionists needed to “use brains, not brawn”.

“The last thing we need is to see more young people sucked into confrontation and the courts to serve the agenda of certain elements in the background who would seek to gain credibility and kudos by taking advantage of legitimate fears and concerns.

“We need cool heads and calm reflection.”

Prominent loyalist and Belfast City councillor Billy Hutchinson was also unenthusiastic about proposals for a unionist civil disobedience campaign.

“Who are they going to fight?” he asked. “Are they going to fight Boris Johnson?

“Are the going to fight the British Government? We are British,” he also told the BBC’s The View programme.

And writing last night on social media, the PUP councillor said political unionism needed to think hard about the changing demographics of Northern Ireland, and endorsed a call for a ‘Unionist Convention’ to agree a way forward.

The “civil disobedience” call came as a planned loyalist protest outside the offices of the Conservative Party in Belfast was cancelled without explanation.

The protest at the city centre office building was to have taken place on December 9.