Northern Ireland Protocol: Jamie Bryson says Supreme Court judgement will fuel 'anger and resistance' as he speaks of protests on anniversary of Good Friday Agreement

And such anger may well find its outlet in demonstrations co-inciding with the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement said Mr Bryson, who was one of the key organisers of the sporadic bursts of loyalist street rallies in recent years in opposition to the Protocol.

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The Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10, 1998.

The UK government describes it as “a remarkable achievement and brought an end to 30 years of conflict… and a safer and more inclusive society”.

It says that “to mark the Agreement’s 25th year, the UK Government, alongside national and international partners, will be delivering exciting projects and initiatives” (though the programme has yet to be announced).

Mr Bryson has always been an opponent of the agreement, and told Parliament’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in 2018: “If people took to the streets and said ‘we are going to burn down London – unless we can have a mandatory coalition, we’re going to blow London up’, would you expect the British parliament to humiliate itself and say ‘okay, we will change our system of government to ensure that you won’t shoot and bomb us’?

“[The] Belfast Agreement was a surrender to IRA terrorism to stop them bombing England.”

And in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement this week, he told his 40,400 Twitter followers:

"If anti-agreement unionism had sat down and said ‘what is the best argument and material we could possibly ever get’ to use against the Belfast Agreement, I couldn’t possibly have dreamt of anything as potent as the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court judgments.

“The Supreme Court judgment definitely and conclusively clears away all the ambiguity.

“The Belfast Agreement is, and always was, a fraud and a deceit. The core protections were no such thing for unionists.

“No self respecting unionist can ever return to its institutions.”

Asked about the prospect of renewed street protests now, Mr Bryson told the News Letter: “As we head towards the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, if the Protocol remains in place, then clearly that will be an ideal platform upon which to mount a burst of protest to make clear that the Agreement is finished as far as unionism is concerned.

“The Supreme Court judgment vindicates the arguments of anti-Protocol unionism and loyalism. It does not diminish in any way the legitimate opposition to the Protocol, but on the contrary fuels anger and resistance to its continued imposition

“The Protocol judgment by the Supreme Court explodes the myth that the principle of consent protects or safeguards the Union. The fact that the Act of Union has been subjugated, and remains so in a form of suspension for so long as the Protocol persists, is conclusive evidence that the foundation upon which pro Agreement unionism was built is constitutional quicksand.

“There will be many who supported the Belfast Agreement in 1998 who feel betrayed today. They sold it to our community – mostly in good faith – on the basis of the principle of consent, and now that purported ‘safeguard’ has been shown to be no such thing.

“Whether it be via further strategic legal action, political campaigning or protest action, we will not rest until Northern Ireland is restored to the United Kingdom, and any power sharing arrangements will have to be built on a solid foundation.

“The 25th Anniversary of the Belfast Agreement is a ready made platform to demonstrate to the world that the Protocol which they piously claimed existed to protect the Belfast Agreement, peace and stability in Northern Ireland, has in fact done the complete opposite.”