NI Protocol could have advantages - PUP councillor John Kyle says

John Kyle is a Progressive Unionist Party Councillor

The Northern Ireland protocol could present "significant opportunities" if some "serious problems" are addressed, a unionist politician has said.

Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) councillor John Kyle said it could bring a "unique advantage".

Most unionist politicians want the protocol scrapped entirely or significantly changed.

In a statement on Friday, the PUP said that Dr Kyle had given his personal opinion on the issue.

"He is entitled to do so but this is not the position of our party. Our position remains unchanged and is as set out in our constitutional statement," the party added.

"For the avoidance of doubt, the protocol must go."

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said it was "not the time for unionism to divide".

The mechanism was agreed in 2019 as a way to help prevent checks at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

It involves keeping NI aligned with the EU's single market for goods - but this, in turn, creates a new trade border with Great Britain.

Some unionists have said this has undermined their place in the UK and some businesses have experienced difficulties.

Mr Kyle told BBC NI's The View programme on Thursday night there was potential in the protocol if "fundamental" changes were made.

Some unionists have held protests against the protocol

He said: "If we address those serious problems, if we see that there needs to be fundamental change in the Northern Ireland Protocol, then there are also significant opportunities there.

"Businesses in Northern Ireland will be able to export to the European Union without the regulatory restrictions that are placed on all other businesses in Great Britain.

"They will also have access to the UK internal market that other businesses in the EU do not have access to, so we are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the UK internal market and the EU market.

"We are in a unique position that gives us an opportunity that no one else has, and we need to look at ways to exploit that."

'Keep our nerve'

In a statement on Friday, the DUP said its plan and strategy on the protocol was "succeeding" and it expected "we won't have to wait much longer to find out" whether negotiations between the UK and the EU will produce a "proper outcome".

"Now is not the time for unionism to divide," a party spokesperson continued.

"We must keep our nerve and see this through.

"GB is our most important market by value and volume. The Irish Sea border must go."

John Kyle is going where no other political unionist dares at the moment - talking about the opportunities of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

To be clear, he was not saying he accepts it entirely in its present form but rather suggesting he accepts that practically, it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon - so why not make the most of it.

On that, the PUP councillor is a lone political voice - at odds with even his party leader Billy Hutchinson who not long ago withdrew the PUP's support for the Good Friday Agreement over the protocol.

Unionist critics of Mr Kyle may accuse him of trying to ride two horses and suggest his efforts would be better spent helping take apart the protocol arrangements than talk them up.

The PUP councillor, however, clearly believes there are other kinds of unionists who quietly agree with him and want this sort of conversation reignited.

The leader of the PUP, Billy Hutchinson, previously described the protocol as a "real and present threat" to the substance of the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

He also said the "constitutional guarantee" in the Good Friday Agreement was "not as was promised to the unionist community" and he called for a "rebalancing" of how the 1998 peace deal was being implemented in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

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In September, he signed a letter along with the leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party and Traditional Unionist Voice which set out opposition to the protocol.

It said: "We, the undersigned unionist political leaders, affirm our opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, its mechanisms and structures and reaffirm our unalterable position that the Protocol must be rejected and replaced by arrangements which fully respect Northern Ireland's position as a constituent and integral part of the United Kingdom."

Mr Kyle said he believed much of "civic unionism" believed what he believed and that he had received messages of support for his position.