LOYALIST campaigner Jamie Bryson has insisted he is not a member of any paramilitary organisation.
The north Down-based activist is currently one of the most prominent figures expressing opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, which puts an economic border down the Irish Sea.
In recent weeks, loyalist opposition to the protocol took a potentially significant turn when the UVF, which is officially on ceasefire, was blamed for leaving a hoax device at a peace-building event in north Belfast attended by Irish government minister Simon Coveney.
The following day the same organisation is believed to have been behind an alert at a bar in Warrenpoint, Co Down.
The UDA, which is also officially on ceasefire, is understood to have been responsible for a hoax alert that disrupted Dublin to Belfast rail services.
Mr Bryson is known for his staunch opposition not only to the protocol but the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which he believes unionists should abandon.
In the past he has been linked to loyalist elements through his media consultancy business and often represents people alleged to be members of the UVF and UDA.
But speaking to The Irish News, Mr Bryson denied being a member of any illegal organisation or being close to the thinking of the UVF.
"The UVF think for themselves. I don't think for them," he said.
"I engage with all sections of loyalism regularly, both on an individual level in terms of people I represent, but also in terms of engaging positively on political and community issues.
"I would offer my view to all sections of loyalism on various things.
"The UVF think for themselves and speak for themselves and I am not a member of any proscribed organisation."
Asked whether the recent hoax alerts by mainstream loyalist groups were justified, Mr Bryson said he has "always been clear that I want people to use the weapons of the law, political activism to advance the cause of unionism and loyalism".
He urged people "to engage in peaceful protest and to use the law to advance that".
"I have set my own personal opinion out very clearly and its up to other people to take their own view," he said.
"I think we all want to live in a very peaceful Northern Ireland."
Mr Bryson said he hopes a political outcome can be found.
"So what we need to do is make sure there's not a political vacuum so people can see, actually there's a political solution to this, there's a solution to this through law and there's no need to escalate matters."
Often a controversial public figure, Mr Bryson regularly comes in for online abuse.
While much of this is ignored, he admits comments about his seven-year-old son Jax are upsetting.
"I'm not overly fussed by the carry-on on social media but it is out of control and the only time it does get to me and anger me is whenever people issue threats towards my son or wish ill to him or make comments about him," he said.
"Because my little boy is entitled to make his own life.
"He is a lovely little boy, he's not political, he likes football, not protesting."
He said his child should not be singled out because of who his father is.
He added that he wants his son "to grow up in a peaceful, stable Northern Ireland" and "have friends from both communities", saying that "some of my best friends, by the way, come from a Catholic background".
