Paramilitary violence in opposition to Northern Ireland Protocol not ‘off the table’

Violence cannot be "ruled off the table" if the Government proceeds with implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol, a member of the umbrella group representing loyalist paramilitaries has warned MPs.

Amid mounting unionist tensions over post-Brexit trade disruption, Joel Keys, a member of the Loyalist Communities Council (LLC), said he was "no fan of violence" and believed it had to be an "absolute last resort".

Asked about the threat of violence were the protocol to become "embedded", Mr Keys, 19, told the Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee: "I am not sure if violence will be the answer. I'm just saying that I wouldn't sort of rule it off the table."

He later clarified that he did not believe "we're anywhere near that point at the minute".

His comments were echoed by David Campbell, the chairman of the group and a former senior figure in the Ulster Unionist Party, who said anger over the protocol "definitely could creep over into violence".

The LCC, which represents the proscribed organisations the Red Hand Commando, Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association, was founded in 2015 as a means of bringing about an end to loyalist paramilitarism.

It has repeatedly called on Boris Johnson to scrap the protocol, set up as part of the Brexit deal to reflect Northern Ireland's dual status of being part of the UK while applying EU checks.

Since January, it has caused major disruption for traders moving goods across the Irish Sea and is blamed for helping fuel unrest among loyalists.

While the LCC members stressed that they were trying to prevent a descent into violence, Mr Campbell said Northern Ireland was facing "probably the most dangerous situation for many years".

He reiterated his belief that the protocol had breached the terms of the Good Friday Agreement after the group withdrew its support in March.

"I've never witnessed such anger since 1985, when the Anglo-Irish agreement was imposed," he added. "We are not in the business of issuing threats, but we are in the business of issuing warnings."

Mr Campbell went on to attack Brussels and the Irish government over their roles in drawing up the protocol, adding that senior figures including Michel Barnier and Maros Sefcovic had refused to meet them.

He said that during a meeting with Lord Frost, the Cabinet minister in charge of EU relations, last week he had told the group that "the European Commission needs to hear what I'm hearing".

Jim Wilson, a third LCC member, told the committee: "We met the Irish Government over the protocol, on three or four different occasions, with Simon Coveney and others. And they never listened to one word we said."