My Life in Loyalism

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Finally, I want to emphasise this article is written as a personal effort to use whatever influence I have or credibility which my voice carries to urge people to listen and take the concerns being raised seriously. Ms Graham said: “The DUP has been given additional votes, including my own, under the condition that the party remains outside of government until the protocol is addressed.

The ‘Keep Your Word’ template letters have been produced by loyalist advocacy group Let’s Talk Loyalism as part of its campaign against post-Brexit trading arrangements. But my view very clearly from the Progressive Unionist Party is we all need to be working together - the Unionist parties - to make sure we get a political solution to this. Whether you agree or not with the path taken by Billy Hutchinson it is important to hear this story. For example, in January 1974, the UVF gave cautious support of a proposal by Desmond Boal, a former Unionist and DUP MP, for a federal Ireland , with autonomy for Northern Ireland . This has been Hutchinson’s “life in loyalism”; it is the title of his autobiography, which is written with Gareth Mulvenna and published this month by Merrion Press.

Before this, he had been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was a founder of their youth wing, the Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV). He also saw the Civil Rights movement as a front for the IRA, and the IRA as attempting to force unionists into a united Ireland. Progressive Unionist party leaders Billy Hutchinson and David Ervine celebrate with their supporters in Belfast city hall in 1998.

The institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement are not working and need to be reviewed, a loyalist leader has said.And after 30 seconds I set the remote down and I said, isn’t this what we wanted, the two extremes in government? Asked if there was a genuine depth of anger in his community and whether he was not "sabre rattling" he replied: "This is not sabre rattling. Hutchinson had served as Spence's bodyguard briefly and had been in his company the day Spence was recaptured. Hutchinson ran for the PUP in the 1997 local government election and was elected to Belfast City Council as a representative of the Oldpark District Electoral Area, topping the poll among unionist candidates in this area. The attraction of the UVF was that it was “obviously keen to create a coherent strategy and identity for loyalists who were interested in taking direct action against the IRA.

Both men were arrested soon afterwards and were both charged with murder to which they pleaded guilty, receiving life sentences.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. New posters have been erected across different parts of Northern Ireland highlighting loyalist demands regarding the deal.