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Jamie Bryson
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Jamie Bryson (1990–) is a Northern Irish unionist community activist, and also a major spokesman for the Loyalist Communities Council
.
The Loyalist Communities Council is a hard-line unionist community group that liaises with those who support Northern Ireland continuing to be part of the United Kingdom but under unionist self-rule. However, the organisation is known for controversy linked with the two main loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland; the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association. While the LCC itself is seen as a legitimate community association, both paramilitaries groups are designed illegal proscribed terrorist organisations in the UK and Ireland, and with the UDA also the USA. He also edits a loyalist newsletter and news site Unionist Voice which spreads his viewpoints. [1]
As well as being known for his activities, he is also a COVID denier and extreme Brexiteer.
From "flegs" to rabbiting on talk radio[edit]
Bryson gained notoriety in Northern Ireland as a spokesman during the 2012 Belfast City Hall flag protests. The protest happened after the city council agreed to change the flying of the British Union Jack from the symbolic city hall, from every day to the eighteen designed flag days like how city halls fly the national flag in Great Britain. This came out as a comprise between Unionists who wanted to continue flying the flag and Nationalists want to have the flag not flying at all. Due to flags being a major symbol of Northern Irish loyalties, it was seen by many Unionists as an attack on their Britishness and British identity. Once it was announced, a number of Unionists started to protest outside city hall which was led by hard-line loyalist Billy Frazer, with Bryson participating.
Since the protest, he has been a notable figure in the Northern Irish political scene mainly being a loudmouth in the local media, especially on the popular BBC Radio Ulster's phone-in programme The Nolan Show and in the unionist newspaper The Belfast Newsletter.
The Northern Irish Protocol[edit]
Bryson gained national coverage presiding over protests over opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, an agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union that allows both a frictionless border on the isle of Ireland as prescribed under the Belfast Agreement while keeping the United Kingdom outside the customs union of the European Single Market. This deal would mean that the customs border would be between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and that would also include food checks at the ports.
Despite general support in Northern Ireland for the Protocol, many loyalists see this as a front to splitting Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom. However, rather than a complaint about the Protocol to the protocol's main architect Boris Johnson who did it as a last-minute deal with the EU. Bryson blames the Irish government and the European Union.
In June 2021, together with other Brexiteers, he led a High Court challenge claiming that the Protocol broke the constitutional law Act of Union 1800 which integrated Ireland into the United Kingdom. However, the court threw out the case on the grounds that the Houses of Parliament can change constitutional law at any time and the Protocol was legal.
External links[edit]
- Jamie Bryson on Wikipedia
- Jamie Bryson on Twitter (Warning: it is non-sensical)