Unionists in County Down protest Northern Ireland Protocol

With anger in the province rising, hundreds protested against the Northern Ireland Protocol in the Ulster town of Newtownards on Friday evening.

Agreed between the UK and the EU as part of the Brexit withdrawal deal, the new arrangements, designed to keep an open border between Ireland and its northern neighbour, have incensed Unionists in Northern Ireland, who claim they weaken ties with the rest of the UK.

Critics claim it has created a border down the Irish Sea.

Britain and the EU are locked in an escalating diplomatic feud over Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK that borders the 27-nation bloc.

At the protest on Friday, Heather Ramsay told Sky News the protocol is "diluting" unionism with Britain.