Windsor Framework: Protocol or power-sharing, never both – loyalists will hold mass street protests if Stormont returns with Northern Ireland Protocol still in place, says Jamie Bryson

The warning comes in a letter from loyalist activist Jamie Bryson to the leaders of the DUP, UUP and TUV. Mr Bryson was writing on behalf of Unionist Voice Policy Studies.

In the letter, sent to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Doug Beattie and Jim Allister over the weekend, Mr Bryson said that government proposals to restore devolution are "a joke".

According to the Belfast Telegraph, the letter said that a statutory instrument “creating a vague duty not to further diminish the Acts of Union” would not fix the damage and could be overridden by the protocol.

The letter continued: “It is therefore purely symbolic and, even symbolically, it’s nonsense and utterly worthless.

“Put simply, unalterable commitments have been made. The unionist base — according to all polls — stands firmly behind unionism’s principled stand: protocol or power-sharing, never both.

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“A surrendering on these issues by returning to Stormont would — in our analysis — ignite significant instability and, without any doubt, precipitate a return to mass street protests.

“It would, in our view, also be the case that a significant swathe of grassroots unionism/loyalism would actively electorally campaign against any unionist who had opted for the role of collaborator and implementer in the subjugation and suspension of the Union.”