Jimbo Allister: announces that red and green customs lanes will no satisfy unionist unrest concerning the NI Protocol

Jim Allister: It is deluded to think that red and green customs lanes will neuter the Northern Ireland Protocol

         Thursday 26th May, 2022. 

Those, including government, who claim green and red customs lanes would remove the offence of the Northern Ireland Protocol are ignoring three critical realities.

Green and red customs lanes confirm in themselves that in moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland you are moving from one customs territory to another — the very essence of the sovereignty-busting Article 5 of the protocol

First, green and red customs lanes confirm in themselves that in moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland you are moving from one customs territory to another — the very essence of the sovereignty-busting Article 5 of the protocol.

One could imagine and understand their meaning if there were green and red lanes between England and an independent Scotland, which belonged to the EU, but never so long as Scotland is an integral part of the UK. Likewise, our constitutional integrity necessitates the repudiation of green and red customs lanes.

Their very ameliorations confirm the partitioning of the UK through a border in the Irish Sea.

Jim Allister QC, MLA is leader of Traditional Unionist Voice

The second reality that the green and red customs lane proposal ignores and does not address is the invasive Article 7 of the protocol.

Article 7 is that which applies a huge body of EU law — the EU acquis — directly and irreversibly to Northern Ireland, as articulated in Annex 2 of the protocol to the extent of 300 such EU laws which we can’t change but must implement as a colonised rule taker.

The undemocratic import of Article 7 is breathtaking.

We, a part of the United Kingdom which elects MPs and MLAs are governed in matters of trade and manufacturing of goods and standards by laws we don’t make and can’t change. How any democrat — unionist, nationalist or other — can acquiesce, nay support, such abject subjection to foreign dictatorship is beyond comprehension.

Thirdly, the unacceptable green and red customs lane proposal leaves untouched the monstrous impositions of Articles 8 and 10 of the protocol which retain Northern Ireland under the EU’s VAT regime and severe State Aid rules.

Once more, taxation without representation hallmarks this undemocratic excess, whereby we are governed not by UK rules and laws, but by foreign diktat.

So, anyone who thinks green and red customs lanes would neuter and deal with the protocol is seriously deluded and does not get the fundamental offence that must be removed — namely, a protocol which annexes us into foreign jurisdiction.

• Jimbo Allister QC MLA is TUV leader

With many thanks to the: News Letter and Jimbo Allister for the original publication.

Follow these links to find out more on this story and more information on the NI Protocol: THE Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol

Westminster 'pushing disingenuous claim protocol is incompatible with the Good Friday Agreement'

UK must accept border on Irish Sea is inevitable, says ex-WTO chief.

The British Government's top law officer Attorney General Suella Braverman who advised Boris Johnson to rip up the NI Protocol

On Polling Day Let Them Know the Usual Scare Tactics Failed

          SEND A MESSAGE TO TOXIC                                     CAMPAIGNERS

BEING a "frontline politician" has a different connotation in this part of the word. It's getting to the point where politicians will need hard hats, fire extinguishers and mace when they go out canvassing for our votes. 

      A Vote for the TUV is a vote for hate,          sectarianism and anti-Catholicism. Jim is     quite happy to live in the past he doesn't        wish to move forward and is using this         election to spread his hatred for change. 

SDLP MP Claire Hanna is right when she says the current election campaign has become toxic. Of course toxic campaigns are something we have become very used to here, but there is a noticeable undercurrent this time around.

In the past, politicians ran the gauntlet of paramilitary attacks. Famously, Gerry Fitt pulled a gun on raiders, who forced their way into his home, but that was in 1976 - a different world. Ulster Unionist MP Robert Bradford was murdered, the UVF shot and killed Sinn Féin's Sheena Campbell, other politicians such as Nigel (deputy Dog) Dodds and Alex Maskey survived murder bids.

     A Vote for the PUP is saying that you            agree  with the recent loyalist violence            carried out and orchestrated by UVF           terrorism during the anti-Protocol/anti-               Good-Friday-Agreement rallies. 

But this is different and clearly driven by paramilitary elements within the (PUL) loyalist community, most notably the ceasefire UVF.

It's a disturbing and blunt instrument campaign to intimidate those who don't share their view. It shows a lack of confidence in their own identity, their own ability to make their case and sell it to others. But rather than talk, loyalists circle the wagons and chuck stones at those on the outside.

In the greater scheme of things the theft of election posters isn't exactly the crime of the century, but what we're seeing aren't random acts of vandalism, it's an attempt to exclude an alternative view, a sort of book burning - what you don't know can't change your mind.

It's not a new tactic. In almost every election campaign since the inception of the state, hardline unionists and loyalists have reduced the fight to a single-issue campaign and they're doing it again, and it's the same weapons of choice - sectarianism and fear.

At the centre of it is the myth that the Brexit Sea Border threatens the North's constitutional position. Whatever Jeffrey Donaldson or Jim Allister say, anti-Protocol protests are fanning the flames. How else can you explain the disturbing and quite frankly chilling image of Doug Beattie with a noose around his neck?

The two young thugs caught in the act of taking down SDLP candidate Elsie Trainor's posters in south Belfast had their orders - take Elsie out of the fight, cancel her, make her disappear. Her bravery in chasing them down and filming them earned her a slap in the face and verbal abuse by calling her a "republican bastard".

In refusing to be intimidated, Elsie struck her own blow. She won't be pushed around and I hope the voters show a little of the same courage come polling day.

With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Richard Sullivan for the original opinion piece published in the Sunday World newspaper.

Follow this link to find out more on this story: NI election 2022: 41 poster incidents reported to the PSNI/RUC but how many reports were from the DUP, TUV and PUP?

This may be the last hurrah for anti-agreement unionism

"I BELIEVE that you will inspire people with hope far better than fear. We need more optimism not pessimism and that is how we will secure the long-term future of the Union." (Doug Beattie)

      CHANGING DYNAMICS: The crowds          attending the anti-protocol rallies have not          been huge, but nor have they been                        insignificant. PICTURE: PA

"The election is a wake-up call for those who support the Union. This is not the time to have unionism fractured and weakened. It is not the time for fellow unionists to have a go at one another and it is not the time to take a chance on those who are not tried and tested." (Jeffrey Donaldson) 

"We are clear and providing a rock-solid guarantee that we will never provide a stooge deputy to a Sinn Féin First Minister. TUV would unapologetically block Michelle O’Neill. If unionists want to be certain that their vote will never be used to enthrone Sinn Féin [voting] "TUV1 is their only guarantee." (Jim Allister)

"Every domocratic means available should be deployed to see the Protocol consigned to history and there should be no return to Stormont whilst the protocol-related issues remain unresolved." (Grand Orange Lodge)

"The blunt reality is, I don't know why any unionist has been running scared of a border poll - we've absolutely nothing to fear. I would have challenged Sinn Féin to one tomorrow if it was in my gift." (David Campbell, chair of the Loyalist Communities Council)

Well, there you go: pick the bones out of that lot. Which is precisely what unionist voters will have to do between and May 5th.

Them'UN's - Them And Us Approach - No Sinn Féin First Minister (Myself) 

 

Do they opt for Doug Beattie's approach and allow hope to trump fear, or do they steer towards the DUP's line that the union is in danger and only they can protect it? Or do they go a lot further - which is what the TUV seems to be suggesting - and make sure that, in the event Sinn Féin does emerge as the largest party, there's no chance at all of a rebooted executive?

   

                    PRODUCT FEAR

The TUV reckons that the DUP and UUP would reach agreement with Sinn Féin a few months down the line

The TUV reckons - probably with some justification - that the DUP and UUP would reach agreement with Sinn Féin a few months down the line, even if that required serving as deputy first minister to Michelle O’Neill against a background in which there had a 'soft landing' resolution to the protocol. That's why, just a few days after he shared a platform with him, Jim Allister was having a pop at Jeffrey Donaldson for not ruling anything in or out when asked, on Talkback, if he would confirm that his party wouldn't serve under Michelle O’Neill. It's also why Doug Beattie was accused, on the same platform, of being a 'Lundy' and a 'traitor'.

 TOGETHER WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL

And it's why the unionist parties still supporting the anti-protocol rallies - the DUP, TUV and PUP - have found it impossible to issue a joint statement/declaration/strategy setting out what they will do once the election is over and the results are in. If the DUP is returned as the largest unionist party and represents an overall majority of unionist MLAs, then expect to see it move closer to the UUP (assuming it hasn't had a catastrophic result) to try and keep the assembly afloat. 

Deep down Jim Allister knows that the DUP/UUP don't share his deep-rotted antipathy to the Belfast Agreement and mandatory coalition. He has seen them work the institutions and he knows they enjoy sort of balance-of-power numbers required to influence their decisions during and after negotiations he also knows that this really is the last personal hurrah. Maybe even the last hurrah for anti-agreement/anti-assembly unionism. 

The protocol changed the dynamics across and within unionism and loyalism, particularly with the intervention of new grassroots coalitions set up and directed by a younger generation of loyalists (who I first mentioned about three years ago). The crowds attending the rallies haven't been huge, but nor have they been insignificant. That said, they have been as much anti-Good-Friday-Agreement as anti-Protocol crowds and mostly tending towards Jim Allister's worldview than Jeffrey Donaldson's or Doug Beattie's. 

So, Beattie (who dropped out because he thinks the UUP's core vote isn't comfortable with aspects of the rallies) and Donaldson (who stays in because he worries that Allister's message might appeal to some sections of the DUP) will still be hoping that, while the rallies attract attention - albeit for the wrong reasons, sometimes - the TUV/loyalist coalition perspective won't attract a critical mass of unionist votes. Both men know that the protocol has unsettled huge swathes of the unionist/pro-union communities (it unsettles me), but they reckon that the unsettling doesn't and won't translate into a significant wave of votes to the TUV. 

And what about those organising the rallies - at which Allister and Donaldson, along with others, are just guest speakers? I'm presuming they agree with what Jamie Bryson describes as an increasing the pressure approach to unionism's problems. I'm also presuming that, having raised their voice and made their mark, they won't be packing their bags and moving off once the election is over: irrespective of the final results. 

With many thanks to: The Irish News and Alex Kane for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story and other subjects relevant to the opinion above: DON'T LET EVERYTHING JEFFERY AND THE DUP TELL YOU ABOUT THE BREXIT SEA BORDER AND THE PROTOCOL AND TAKE IT AS GOSPEL!

CHOOSE YOUR UNIONIST PARTY WISELY - FORWARDS WITH BEATTIE AND THE UUP OR BACKWARDS WITH BRYSON, DONALDSON AND ALLISTER - HOW WILL YOU VOTE ON 5TH MAY?

THE Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol

 NOLAN'S TOP TABLE SHOW AXED

BEATTIE SLAMS VILE HANGMAN POSTER

ULSTER Unionist leader Doug Beattie has condemned "mindless idiots" who placed one of his election posters with a noose around the neck. The poster was removed from a bench in Lurgan on Friday evening by fellow unionist leaders MP Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP and Jim Allister of the TUV.

    Doug Beattie Infamous Election Poster 

                 'The Hangman's Noose' 

Mr Beattie also hit out at one of the speakers at the event who referred to him as a "traitor". The UUP leader, who has refused to attend the rallies claiming they were raising tensions, said he would "not be bullied, intimidated or distracted". 

Mr Beattie announced he would not attend the events after a security alert halted a peace-building event in north Belfast which Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney had been addressing last month.

  Ongoing intimidation of UUP leader Doug           Beattie the smashed window of his                constituency office in Portadown. 

Since then, his constituency office in Portadown was attacked and the front window was smashed by a brick. 

Reacting to Friday night's events, Mr Beattie said: "It is a poster and some mindless idiots have put a noose around my neck on it - they are not reflective of the vast majority of people who were there. "A poster can go in the bin, a window can be replaced. "My concern for the people of *orthern Ireland remains. Nothing has changed." 

Mr Beattie, an Army veteran who has been decorated with the Military Cross, said he was disappointed at being branded a "traitor" by a speaker at the event. He said:  "That is where my main disappointment is, in being called a Lundy and a traitor when I'm clearly not. "I am a unionist who supports the union, who will do everything I possibly can for the people of that union. 

"I will neither be bullied nor intimidated nor distracted from the path that I believe is the right path for the people of *orthern Ireland, so nothing has changed whatsoever. 

"Those who called me a Lundy and traitor or put a double-knotted noose around my neck on a poster are not the people who stood beside me in battle. "They are not the people who I served alongside who were some of the finest men and women who have ever donned the Queen's uniform, as we literally bled blood, sweat and tears in the heart of battle, in the service of our country. "A minority shout the loudest and make a lot of noise as they seek to raise temperatures and create instability in *orthern Ireland, but I believe the silent majority in *orthern Ireland will want no truck with those comments and will despair at the type of leadership it represents for unionism." 

Mr Beattie added: "I don't blame the vast majority of people who were there. The people who did it are the ones to blame, they are the ones who have to answer the questions and we should not lay the blame at the feet of others when it was mindless individuals who did it." 

Mr Allister said he removed the poster of Mr Beattie from view because he felt its presentation, whether intentional or inadvertent, was "entirely inappropriate". 

With many thanks to the: Sunday World  and Hugh Jordan  for the original publication.

Follow these links to find out more about this story and the ongoing anti-Protocol rallies: Loyalists Reject Doug Beattie Noose Claims - MJS Writing.  

The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) will 'NEVER' be Renegotiated and UVF Intimidation will not Achieve the Removal of the Protocol

IT WAS RALLY JIM'S SHOW

◼️ TUV boss steals limelight at Lurgan anti-Protocol demo

◼️ Donaldson puts on brave face as Beattie stays away

It may have been billed as an 'Anti-Protocol Rally' - after all that's what the posters said.

But in reality, Friday night's unionist parade and protest in Lurgan was the Jim Allister Show. 

   Brownlow House - known locally as 'The         Castle' and owned by Lurgan Orange                                        Order. 

It was a TUV pre-election presentation in all but name.

And DUP leader, MP Jeffrey Donaldson knew it!

Ulster Unionist Party boss and decorated British Army veteran Doug Beattie had already pulled out, claiming the event was divisive and likely to raise community tensions. He was branded a traitor for his actions and even had a noose tied around his neck in an election poster. And despite his obvious discomfort throughout, Donaldson knew that a no-show from him would have left him open to similar abuse.

                         IMPORTANCE 

The predominantly Catholic town of Lurgan in Co Armagh may at first appear a poor choice for a rally of such importance to unionists claiming trade protocols introduced Post-Brexit have smashed their British birthright.

But Brownlow House - a short walk from the town centre - enjoys a warm place in the hearts of many unionists. It is reputed to be the largest Orange Hall in the world.

Known locally as 'The Castle', Brownlow House is the former home of landlord Lord Lurgan. And today is owned by the Lurgan Orange Order which organised Friday night's anti-Protocol rally in the car park. 

As PSNI/RUC officers began appearing on a deserted High Street shortly after teatime, an air of anticipation swept through the town. 

And with more and more people arriving at the junction with Windsor Avenue, it soon became clear something big was going to happen. 

Life-long loyalist and former UDR soldier Paul Craven (68) had travelled 10 miles (up the road) from his home in Portadown (are you having a laugh?) to voice his opposition to the trade Protocol. 

"We need to take a strong stance against it," he told me. 

Former DUP representative in the European Parliament and a party candidate in the forthcoming election, Diane Dodds having arranged to meet her party leader Jeffrey. 

And to pass the time, Mrs Dodds chatted amicably with TV reporters and cameramen. 

But the senior DUP politician was spotted by hardline unionist supporter and fundamentalist Protestant Brian Johnson from east Belfast. 

A one-time Shorts Aircraft factory worker in the early 50s, Johnson was distributing religious tracts when he suddenly rounded on Mrs Dodds, accusing her party of selling out the Protestant people of *orthern Ireland. "Don't listen to her," he blasted, "she's already been bought off by globalisation. 

                        OVERTAKEN 

"We are being overtaken by a new world religion based in Abu Dhabi, the Bible still matters, but the DUP has sold us down the drain!" he screamed at the shocked DUP veteran. 

And as Mrs Dodds turned to leave, Johnson grabbed his groin before shouting: "The DUP has no balls. It appears to have forgotten the word 'no!" 

       DUP's Diane Dodds and MP Jeffrey            Donaldson join the anti-Protocol rally in                                  Lurgan. 

Minutes later, Mrs Dodds and Mr Donaldson joined the loyalist parade as it wound its way around the main shopping street and down Windsor Avenue on its way to Brownlow House. 

Prominent members of the unionist community, including leading Apprentice Boys of Derry members Worthington McGrath, Billy Moore and the organisation's current Governor Graham Stenhouse, travelled from the Maiden City to show their support. 

       The infamous Doug Beattie poster 

               'The Hangman's Noose' 

The Doug Beattie poster - showing a noose around the UUP leader's neck - was spotted on a park bench near the entrance to the property. 

But it was turned away from public view by fellow unionist leaders (any publicity is good publicity especially during an upcoming election) Jeffrey Donaldson and Jim Allister. 

But other posters urging those present to vote TUV were left in place. 

                       SUPPORTERS 

As Jim Allister waved to supporters from the covered platform, large sections of the crowd chanted: "TUV. TUV." 

   Some of the crowds at the anti-Protocol       rally on Friday evening but nowhere near       the 10,000 supporters they claimed there                                    were. 

Organisers claimed 10,000 supporters were expected to take part in the parade along with 160 loyalist bands, but those estimates appeared to be well wide of the mark. 

Loyalist spokesman and Pound Shop lawyer Jamie Bryson kicked of the main speeches by proclaiming he was proud to stand alongside unionist leaders Mr Donaldson and Mr Allister. 

And it was also great to see such a strong representation from the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), he added. 

But in a not so subtle attack on UUP leader Mr Beattie, Bryson said: "And to those who should have been here, but aren't, because they strayed from the unionist family, it is my sincere hope that one day, they will return to the unionist family and stand with us. 

"The two men behind me on the platform have been clear that there cannot be and will not be, power-sharing in *orthern Ireland until the union-subjugating Protocol is removed and the principal of consent operates to safeguard the union," he said. 

Bryson also attacked Irish government Minister Simon Coveney for what he called his "aggressive" attitude to *orthern Ireland and its union with the United Kingdom. 

He added: "The DUP, TUV and PUP have stood firm in their opposition to the Protocol and have been backed by grassroots unionism and loyalism and the Loyal Institutions." 

                             PODIUM 

As he prepared to step forward to the podium, MP Jeffrey Donaldson shook his head in dismay at a protester who accused him of being a traitor and he urged those present to use their votes wisely in next month's election. 

He thanked those present for the attendance on such a cold night in support of their cause. 

He asked: "What is out cause? Our cause is (apart from an armed hijacking of a van and placing a hoax bomb inside) peaceful and lawful. 

And our cause is designed to remove those impediments and barriers that have been put between us and the rest of the United Kingdom."

Mr Donaldson added: "Our demand is simple. We want full citizenship within our own country. It is something which has been denied to us by this Protocol. 

"The union isn't just a political union. It is also an economic union," he said to polite applause. 

TUV leader - by far the most popular of the speakers - told the enthusiastic audience the Protocol was Irish unity in transition. 

He said: "Such is the fundamental assault made by the Protocol on our constitutional position that it is irreconcilable with meaningful membership of the UK. 

"The core premise of the Protocol is that GB is a foreign country and that *orthern Ireland in trading terms, is an integral part of the European Union (EU) on what is to be the economically integrated island of Ireland." 

And to loud applause, he added: "The declaration of GB as a 'third' or foreign country cuts to the heart of the union."

With many thanks to the: Sunday World  and Hugh Jordan  for the original publication.

Follow these links to find out more about this story: Loyalists Reject Doug Beattie's Noose Claims - MJS Writing.