The 'very existence' of the UK is at risk over the Windsor Framework - Allister's appeal to Scots at Glasgow Twelfth

The TUV leader addressed Orangemen at the ‘Glasgow Twelfth’ parade on Saturday – saying anyone worthy of the name unionist rejects the post-Brexit trade and rights deal “in all its parts”.

Mr Allister appealed for support from Scottish citizens, who he said recognise the threat to the Union because they too “live under the blight of a separatist First Minister”.

The Scottish demonstration is a precursor to Saturday’s main Twelfth demonstrations across Northern Ireland.

The North Antrim MP said the constitutional basis of the UK has been “trashed” by the Windsor Framework, “because it fetters trade with NI by establishing an EU border to entrap NI within its territory and control”.

“Whereas England, Scotland Wales left the EU, Northern Ireland was left behind under its Customs Code and in its Single market for goods, meaning in 300 areas of law we are governed by foreign laws we don’t make and can’t change. That is not just a democratic outrage, but a deliberate building block for Irish unity as NI is now governed in those 300 areas by the identical laws as the Republic of Ireland. And as these are the laws that shape our trade and economy they are inexorably building the stepping stone of an all-Ireland economy, which always was the intended design of the Windsor Framework.

“Hence, why anyone worthy of the name ‘unionist’ rejects the Windsor Framework in all its parts.

“In that rejection we ask for the support of our fellow citizens in Scotland who equally recognise threat to our Union when they see it, because you, like us, live under the blight of a separatist First Minister, though you are spared the obscenity of being told there was no alternative to the murder of your kith and kin.

“Going forward, there is common cause in rebuilding and restoring our Union, so that the natural affinity between Scotland and Northern Ireland - which is reflected in what we celebrate today - is accentuated, not blocked with preposterous trade barriers and the heavy hand of EU colonial rule, from which you have been spared, but by which we are still benighted.

“Your covenanting forefathers knew the strength and value of covenanting together to defend what mattered; may we together with determination covenant to not rest until all our nation is free of the foreign rule of Brussels diktats”, he said.