Potential for paramilitary violence if Protocol not changed, Poots warns

A UVF mural on the wall of a property on the Lower Newtownards Road in east Belfast (PA)

Outgoing DUP leader Edwin Poots has expressed fears of serious loyalist paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland this summer if Irish Sea trade barriers are not removed.

Mr Poots, who was ousted in an internal party revolt last week, also said he would have been prepared to collapse the powersharing institutions at Stormont next month if changes were not secured to the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol.