Police in Northern Ireland are expecting Boris Johnson’s Brexit agreement to trigger protests in Northern Ireland, MPs have been told.
Simon Byrne, chief constable of the police service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said parts of the loyalist community could see new checks on goods as a “threat” to the union and descend on ports.
Unionist parties including the DUP have opposed the withdrawal agreement on the basis that it creates a border in the Irish sea, which Boris Johnson signed up as a condition of exit.
Asked who he thought might protest, Mr Byrne told MPs: “Largely, we’d assess at the moment, by the loyalist community: if they see that what the port boundary represents is any sort of threat of their perceptions of the union.”
Mr Byrne said police were keeping an “active eye” on the issue, though he stressed that there was no “immediate intelligence” of any specific demonstrations being organised.
On 31 December new controls will be imposed on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The UK government has disputed the exact extent of the internal controls, and is trying to renegotiate the agreement with Brussels to reduce their scope – but accepts that it will have to impose some.
Ministers have argued that the threat of a backlash from the loyalist community in Northern Ireland is one reason why some of the checks they signed up to should not be imposed.
Speaking to MPs the chief constable asp said he did not know why cabinet minister Michael Gove had claimed that the UK would be safer after Brexit.
“I wasn’t privy to the brief that Mr Gove has been given,” he said when asked about the minister’s comments. “I suppose in fairness there’s an issue here around context. Is it safer on 2 Janary? Is it safer on 2 Janary 2022? Until we finally know details of the future security partnership arrangements it’s hard to give an accurate assessment.”
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But he warned that police losing direct access to EU criminal databases would make it harder to catch criminals.
“I’ve described it as imagining a world where you’re going from WiFi to a modem – you’ll still have connectivity, but it’ll take a lot longer,” he told MPs.
