Windsor Framework and Northern Ireland Protocol: Shankill Road Pastor Jack McKee says 'significant anger within unionist communities' over 'tweaking' of union

He was speaking after Loyalist Communities Council chairman, David Campbell, said there is "a credible threat" of violence if the constitutional position of NI is changed without unionist consent.

Commenting, Pastor Jack McKee from New Life City Church on the Shankill Road, told the News Letter: "I do know that there’s significant anger within Unionist communities, most of which is coming from people who would not contemplate or be involved In or even support violence.

"The anger that many people feel is a direct result of the Protocol, and the tweaking of the same. It makes them feel less British than those in other parts of the UK."

He added: "The vast majority of people within the Shankill, if they were in a position to do so, would seek to dissuade young people and others from getting involved in violence."

However, in like manner as Chief Constable Simon Byrne and former deputy PUP leader Dr John Kyle in east Belfast this week, he said he has "not heard any talk of violence" at this time.

Loyalist activist Jamie noted that Mr Campbell encouraged peaceful and political means, adding: "We want and need a peaceful and political solution to this problem".

However he said nationalists had also made comments about violence during Brexit discussions which had also caused serious concerns.

He noted that in 2019, SDLP MP Claire Hanna, said that if a hard land border was imposed, "you cannot expect people to just choke that down and get on with their lives...You cannot imagine that people would take that without civil disobedience at a very minimum."

And he noted that in 2018 Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described using a copy of the Irish Times - with a story about a 1972 IRA customs post bombing, to warn EU leaders that "the possibility of a return to violence are very real”.

He also noted that Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said in 2018 that a hard border would be damaging to peace.

"There are deep strategic long-term considerations here and one of them is peace and stability in Northern Ireland," she warned.

SECURITY ASSESSMENT

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne told the Policing Board this week that loyalism “remains calm” following the unveiling of the Windsor Framework.

In late 2021, two buses in loyalist areas were hijacked and burnt amid rising tensions over opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Byrne said: “At the moment, in the midst of everything else, we assess that loyalism remains calm in terms of the chatter, but we will keep that perspective under clear and careful review.”

Asked if the PSNI had the capacity to deal with the alleged UVF threat and also his assessment of whether that threat is more than empty words, the chief constable said: “We do have the resource at the moment if we go to a different place in terms of protest or, God forbid, disorder."

“We aren’t picking up any chatter or anything in terms of planning that would cause us concerns in terms of a reaction in the way that has been reported that ‘we are going to burn the place down’, as has been in the media from that part of the community."

In 2021 Mr Byrne told the News Letter that the PSNI still stands over the Government's 2015 Assessment of Paramilitary groups, which asserted that the IRA Army Council still oversees Sinn Fein.

The 2015 report also said that the UVF and UDA leadership were committed to peace, but that the groups still had access to some weapons and that some members were still involved in criminality and violence.

In 2020 the Independent Reporting Commission (IRC), which monitors paramilitary activity, said there are "thousands" of members of paramilitary organisations across NI, although the vast majority are “dormant”.

It suggested deproscription or decriminalisation of the groups in part “because mass arrests are patently not feasible”.

It said: "The issue remains constant and real, with the potential for it to flare up and quickly have wider ramifications.... the continued existence of paramilitary groupings of such scale is in itself a ‘clear and present danger’ on an ongoing basis."

In 2018 researcher Paul Nolan, supported by QUB, found that republicans had taken 74 lives and loyalists 71, since the Good Friday Agreement.

PSNI security statistics for the year up until 31 January 2023 are;- one security related death, five bombings, 26 paramilitary style assaults, nine paramilitary style shootings, 108 security related arrests and 14 persons subsequently charged.