SAMMY Wilson last night warned of the potential for loyalist violence if the Irish Sea border remains in place.
The DUP MP claimed threats had been made against workers carrying out checks on goods at the north's ports and said the "real danger is that frustration and anger will be channelled through violence against easily identified targets".
He said groups who had engaged in violence in the past would use it again "if it is seen that political engagement does not work".
The DUP chief whip's warning comes just weeks the chairman of the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) David Campbell said: "If it comes to the bit where we have to fight physically to maintain our freedoms within the UK, so be it."
The LCC umbrella group is supported by members of the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando.
Read more:Loyalist Communities Council chair defends protocol comments
Writing on the Conservatives Global website, Mr Wilson said Northern Ireland was "no longer fully part of the UK" and that the region's status had been changed "without the consent of the people as promised in the GFA (Good Friday Agreement)".
He says the protocol has resulted in "inflexible, draconian and petty the checks" and that it has created "widespread outrage" across the north
Mr Wilson claimed "consumers cannot order goods for their own personal use", including clothes and plants.
Read more: Chief Constable says no credible intelligence of threat to port workers
