Convicted Double Murderer | Billy Hutchinson says loyalist community tensions highest since ceasefire

Tension within loyalist communities is greater than at any point since the ceasefires of 1994, the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) leader has said.

   | PUP leader Billy Hutchinson                       | (Progressive Unionist Party) the               | political wing of the terrorist UVF 

                1st November, 2022. 

Billy Hutchinson said political developments, including Brexit protocol arrangements, had caused rising anger.

His comments echo views expressed in a letter to unionist party leaders by the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC).

It includes representatives of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Red Hand Commando (RHC). 

It warned of "dire consequences" if joint London-Dublin rule of Northern Ireland was imposed in the continued absence of Stormont. 

The NI Office has said that joint authority is not under consideration.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan programme, Mr Hutchinson, whose party is the political wing of the terrorist UVF, said: "I do not want to see violence (but is willing to use it if he has to). 

"We need to make politics work. I want the British government to listen that there is tension.

"This is real. People should not be poo-pooing it.

"We cannot ignore loyalism. We are part of this society and we need to move forward together."

Mr Hutchinson denied that his remarks and the LCC letter made public last week amounted to a threat of violence even though is was a direct threat of violence. 

It has previously been acknowledged that the Brexit Sea Border  arrangements on trade flows between Great Britain and Northern Ireland have created discontent (so loyalist paramilitaries have threatened to break the NI ceasefires) because loyalism and unionism are not getting their own way. 

It was one of the factors at play in successive nights of loyalist street disorder in April 2021. 

The LCC has also spoken out against Irish government ministers visiting Northern Ireland.

In March, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney was forced to abandon a speech in north Belfast after an elaborate bomb hoax carried out by the UVF. 

   MI5 are only tasked with investigating        dissident republican paramilitaries in            the North of Ireland and not with                investigating dissident loyalist                 paramilitaries who are now against                    the pinciples of the GFA 

Last week, Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan told a Westminster committee that loyalist paramilitaries were likely to have played a role in organising anti-protocol rallies which took place on a regular basis until the summer.

With many thanks to: BBC News (NI) 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: East Belfast UVF behind 'sickening and shocking' death threat to Sunday World reporter

CRIME WORLD | How the Troubles hid history of collusion between loyalists and the security forces.

Major drop in Terrorism Act charge rate in loyalist paramilitary activities in the North of Ireland

The Political wing of the UVF the PUP statement the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly and the Good Friday Agreement which they have stated they it longer supports

Billy Hutchinson says loyalist community tensions highest since ceasefires