A body that claims to represent loyal paramilitary organizations told Boris Johnson that the illegal groups are withdrawing support for Northern Ireland’s historic peace agreement.
The Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) said the groups were temporarily withdrawing their support for the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement amid growing concerns over the Northern Ireland contentious Protocol governing the Irish Sea trade after Brexit.
However, they stressed that union opposition to the protocol must remain “peaceful and democratic”.
The 1998 agreement that loyal paramilitaries endorsed 23 years ago ended decades of violence and established power sharing in Stormont.
UK ministers are facing a backlash from trade unionists who fear that the post-Brexit protocol threatens Northern Ireland’s place on the UK’s domestic market.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and other union parties are pushing for the protocol to be canceled, saying it has created an economic wedge between the region and Britain that undermines the union.
The letter sent to Johnson said the paramilitary stance would continue until the protocol was amended to guarantee “unrestricted access to goods, services and citizens across the UK”.
He added: “If you or the EU is not prepared to honor the entire agreement, then you will be responsible for the permanent destruction of the agreement.”
The development came when the UK government took unilateral action on Wednesday to extend a grace period that has limited the paperwork associated with moving agrifood products from Britain to Northern Ireland.
The EU criticized the measure, saying it was at risk of violating the terms of the protocol.
Goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain have undergone additional processes and checks since the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December.
This bureaucracy must intensify significantly when the grace period ends. Thereafter, supermarkets and other retailers will require EU export health certificates for Britain’s agrifood products.
The letter to the prime minister was written by David Campbell, the president of the LCC. He wrote a letter similar to the Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin.
The LCC represents the Ulster Voluntary Force, the Ulster Defense Association and the Red Hand Command, responsible for many deaths during 30 years of conflict.
The main loyal and republican armed groups signed principles such as a commitment to non-violence during the discussions that led to the signing of the Belfast agreement in exchange for the early release of prisoners.
The letter said: “We are concerned about the disruption of trade and trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK that is taking place, but our main objection is much more fundamental.”
He said that during the Brexit negotiations, the government and the EU said it was essential to protect the Belfast Agreement and its built-in safeguards for Northern Ireland’s two main communities. The letter said that the operation of the protocol “repeatedly violates these objectives”.
Campbell insisted that the LCC leadership was determined that opposition to the protocol should be “peaceful and democratic”.
“However, please do not underestimate the strength of feeling on this issue in the whole union family,” he wrote.
The protocol was designed to avoid imposing a hard border on the island of Ireland, keeping Northern Ireland in line with EU trade rules.
This caused disruptions to some goods traveling from the rest of the UK as suppliers struggled to overcome extra bureaucracy.
The police noticed an increasing discontent in the unionist communities. Northern Ireland Police Service (PSNI) police chief Simon Byrne previously warned of a “feverish” atmosphere and urged people to step aside from the brink of violence.
Port inspection personnel were temporarily removed from office this year in response to ominous graffiti, but they resumed their work after police insisted that there was no credible threat against them.
Last week, Stormont’s DUP Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons halted preparatory work on building permanent commercial controls for the Irish Sea at ports.
This move, the legality of which has been contested by fellow executives, did not affect the ongoing checks, as they were taking place in temporary port facilities.