Doug Beattie: Anti-NI Protocol rallies are being used to get rid of agreement

The UUP leader said party representatives would turn up to debates on the protocol in Orange halls, community centres, schools and other indoor venues across Northern Ireland.

But the former Army officer emphasised the UUP will not participate in open air rallies which he claimed some organisers were using to attempt to destroy the 1998 peace accord.

Mr Beattie made his comments ahead of the latest anti-protocol protest which was held in Castlederg last night.

He was challenged by loyalist activist Jamie Bryson to confirm if the UUP was going to rejoin the anti-protocol campaign after one of his Assembly election candidates Philip Smith said he would be attending another such protest, albeit an indoor one in Saintfield next Friday.

In response, Mr Beattie said: “Jamie Bryson wants the protocol rallies to be about getting rid of the Belfast Agreement and we are not going to do that. If he thinks coming back into the fold is getting rid of the Belfast Agreement then he is barking up the wrong tree with us.

“We support and we intend to use the agreement in its fullest way. The Belfast Agreement is not null and void due to the protocol. It has given us peace which some of us had to fight for. It does need an overhaul and we have said this before.”

He continued: “Nothing has changed in our policy towards these outdoor rallies where there is no engagement, where party leaders or individuals are standing on platforms talking down to the people in the crowd with no opportunity to debate and explore what is being said.

“We said we would not be attending those rallies because of recent developments but we also made it clear as far back as March 27 that we would continue to attend engagements in community centres, Orange halls, civic centres or anywhere else where we can have a two-way conversation and where we can explain our position.”

Ahead of last night’s protest DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson called on all unionists to “stand together and work together” to promote the Union.

He said: “The progress made in bringing the EU back to the negotiating table was achieved through a united stance. It is only those who want to weaken unionism or who still want the ‘rigorous implementation’ of the protocol that have anything to gain from divisions within unionism.”

Speaking later at the Castlederg rally, TUV leader Jim Allister said it was no coincidence that the “cheerleaders of the Provisional IRA’s campaign” are the same cheerleaders for the Northern Ireland Protocol and demand its rigorous implementation.

“Why? Because it is delivering what the IRA’s campaign was about. It is furthering the objective of an all-Ireland. How could it be otherwise when, under the protocol, Great Britain is regarded as a third or foreign country in trade terms,” Mr Allister told the gathering.

The TUV leader said: “The stark reality, as spelt out in the Court of Appeal judgment on the protocol is that the protocol ‘subjugates’ Article Six of the Act of Union which guarantees freedom of trade within and between the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. With the disastrous ‘Poots’s Posts’ freedom of trade has been fettered.

“All of this is with the political intent that once you create an all-Ireland economically it is but a short step to a political all-Ireland. That is why all unionists must unite and resolutely oppose the iniquitous protocol.”

Mr Allister added that it was apposite that the latest rally was being staged in Castlederg given the IRA’s campaign of terror against its population in the Troubles when the Provisionals killed 29 people in the area.

Mr Bryson used his speech in the Co Tyrone town to reach out to the UUP and its leader.

He said Mr Beattie was a “decorated military veteran deserving of our respect for that aspect of his public service”.

He continued: “I want the party of Carson and Craig on these platforms, standing together as a Union of unionists. They are a valued part of the unionist family, and to our family they should return. That is my earnest desire.”