Ultraviolet leader Jim Alistair spoke at a protest rally in Balimena, saying the protocol had separated Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom and that it was “cutting the heart” of the union. The rally is the latest in a series to take place across Northern Ireland and outlines trade union and loyal opposition to the post-Brexit protocol, which provides for additional controls on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from the UK.

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Baroness Kate Hoey speaks (Mark Marlow / PA) PA Baroness Kate Hoey speaks (Mark Marlow / PA) Strongly opposed by trade unionists as a border in the Irish Sea. Earlier this year, the DUP resigned from Stormont’s executive branch in protest of the protocol, and the party has vowed not to return to government until their concerns are addressed. A number of loyalist bands marched through Ballymena before several hundred people gathered in the city center to hear speeches by Mr. Allister, former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib and Baroness Kate Hoey. The power we have is to make the Prime Minister choose: do you want to save the protocol or do you want to save Stormont? Jim Alistair The three speakers are among a group that has taken legal action against the protocol, which is to be heard in the Supreme Court. Mr Alistair said: “We have to bring the fake Prime Minister who put this unfair protocol to the point where he has to make a choice. “And the leverage we have is to make the Prime Minister choose: do you want to save the protocol or do you want to save Stormont?

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People attend rally in Ballymena, County Antrim (Mark Marlow / PA) PA People attend rally in Ballymena, County Antrim (Mark Marlow / PA) “You can not have both. “And the reason I say you can not have both is very simple: the price of Stormont is to enforce the protocol and it is a price that no trade unionist can or should ever pay.” He added: “The basic premise of the protocol is that the GB is a foreign country and that Northern Ireland, in commercial terms, is an integral part of the EU on what is to be the economically integrated island of Ireland. “The declaration of GB as a ‘third’ or foreign country cuts the heart of the Union. “It is not surprising that the Court of Appeal acknowledged that the protocol has been subordinated to Article 6 of the Acts of the Union – the very basis of the economic union of the Union.”

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Brexit Rally Policy. Anti-Protest Rally in Ballymena, County Antrim. The TUV’s Jim Allister, Baroness Kate Hoey and Ben Habib wait to speak during the Anti Protocal race in Ballymena Antrim County. Saturday, April 30, 2022. Image by Mark Marlow Brexit Rally Policy. Anti-Protest Rally in Ballymena, County Antrim. The TUV’s Jim Allister, Baroness Kate Hoey and Ben Habib wait to speak during the Anti Protocal race in Ballymena Antrim County. Saturday, April 30, 2022. Image by Mark Marlow Lady Hoey said: “I think people are angry at the pro-union community. “I think we are outraged by the way Northern Ireland has been treated by our government, but especially by the way in which the Irish Government and the European Union have agreed to do what they can to distinguish Northern Ireland. Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom. “I think we all know how the protocol separated Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom, the principle of consensus that was so crucial to the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement, which many of us voted for. “Now how betrayed we feel that the principle of consensus has been abolished by our own government and by a European Union that used Northern Ireland to punish the rest of the United Kingdom. “The price of Brexit for the citizens of the European Parliament will be Northern Ireland. Well, we’re not going to let that happen. …