Jamie Bryson is known for his popularity among rank-and-file unionists and loyalists. Photo: CHARLES MCQUILLAN/GETTY IMAGES EUROPE
Unionists will fight the Irish Sea border “every day” if the DUP reaches a deal to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly with the government, a prominent loyalist activist has warned.
Jamie Bryson said Sir Geoffrey Donaldson would be ousted as Leader of the DUP if he ended his nearly two-year boycott of Stormont over post-Brexit trade deals.
Mr Bryson, who is well known for his ruthlessness on social media and his links to grassroots unionists and loyalists, said: “Unionism is going to split very badly.”
“There will be a significant number of unionists, including myself, who will continue to fight every single day and make life as difficult as possible for Jeffrey Donaldson.
“I will certainly be tempted to stand up. in the constituency against a high-ranking protocol officer,” he added.
The DUP abandoned power-sharing under the Northern Ireland Protocol, which prevented the creation of a hard land border with the EU member Republic of Ireland. member, in February 2022
The treaty which introduced border controls between the region and Great Britain was replaced by the Treaty of Windsor in February, a move supported by the majority of Northern Ireland's political parties.
Sir Geoffrey Donaldson (centre), leader of the DUP, said he had received threats over deals relating to border controls in the Irish Sea. Photo: PA/LIAM MCBURNEY
But Sir Geoffrey said the deal to reduce border controls with Brussels, which Mr Bryson calls the Trojan horse of an “economic united Ireland”, does not guarantee Northern Ireland's place in the UK.
< p>The government has begun negotiations. persuade the deeply divided DUP to return to Stormont.
“The deal will be thrown in their face. We will continue to work on this … it will be a battle every day,” said Bryson, 34, amid growing expectations that a deal is close.
The DUP is scared. on Bryson's influence on ordinary people.
Sinn Féin won the Assembly election for the first time in 2022, ousting the DUP amid predictions of a referendum on Irish unity within a decade.
But former political The IRA wing cannot take the position of First Minister due to the boycott of Stormont, which is carried out under a mandatory coalition between the largest unionist and nationalist parties.
“Unionism and loyalism must take the field,” Mr Bryson said, while emphasizing his opposition to violence and terrorism.
A fiercely articulate campaigner with a legal background, Mr Bryson makes no secret of his commitment work with former loyalist paramilitaries provided they are now committed to peace.
Mr Bryson, who stated that Sir Geoffrey “accepted our arguments”. ' and 'entered our territory' – one of those credited with masterminding the boycott which delayed the government's handling of the NHS and the cost of living crisis.
'Loyalism is used as a smear'
DUP won award at election, despite the distaste some middle-class unionists feel for Mr Bryson due to the stereotype that loyalists are working class, uneducated and involved in crime.
“I am completely against all forms of crime. . You can’t be a loyalist and a drug dealer,” he said. “Loyalism is used as a slander. They cannot understand loyalists who are interested in the law, interested in the media and write articles for newspapers.
“I take the hard line of the trade union movement and do not pretend to be anything. We are called upon to be the praetorian guard who will put the brakes on the DUP,” he added, predicting that marches against the border would resume if a deal is reached.
“The only weapon the unions have is to say that if you really want peace and power-sharing in Northern Ireland, you will have to accept the reality of the situation that the Protocol must resolve.”
Sir Geoffrey told him that threatened for trying to make a deal, but he vowed not to be rejected or intimidated. Mr Bryson condemned threats made publicly and privately to police against the DUP leader.
The government's proposal includes a commitment to review the new UK law to ensure it does not increase trade. friction with Northern Ireland, which continues to follow EU rules under the Windsor Framework.
Pro-Brexit Conservative MPs fear it would lock Britain into Brussels rules and Kemi Badenoch has vowed to raise the issue with Mr. Mr Sunak.< /p>
As well as Stormont's £3.3 billion funding and legislation to guarantee Northern Ireland's place in the UK, the deal includes a proposal to rename the Windsor structure's Green Lane “UK Internal Market Lane”.< /p>
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Mr Bryson said: “There is going to be some kind of patriotic rebranding of the Irish border, which is actually offensive to unionists and will infuriate people in Northern Ireland.”
“What will be the cost of the trade union movement?” pay if he comes back now and says that he will implement something that we all agree on, dismantling the Union? What's the point of a trade union movement if it's going to do so much harm to itself?
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