If Northern Ireland returns to violence, Mr Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party told Assembly members he knew where he would be. "If I have to die for my Britishness, I will die. If it's at the hand of republicans then so be it," he said yesterday.
His party supported the agreement but "if people are being killed in the streets we will be standing shouting. And I'll tell you this, if Sinn Fein are supporting the IRA or anybody else killing loyalists, I know where I'll be."
The divide had nothing to do with religion, he said. "It's about my British identity on this island and I won't allow Sinn Fein or anybody else to take that away from me."
In a challenge to anti-agreement unionists he said "people had better get real" and accept the reality was there were people in Northern Ireland prepared to lift a gun or plant a bomb on the basis of what was said in the Assembly.
He was specifically critical of Mr Cedric Wilson, of the Northern Ireland Unionist Party, saying: "He shouts across to these people in Sinn Fein. Where has he been for the last 30 years? I didn't see too many dead IRA men or Sinn Fein members from him or anyone else. He along with me must take responsibility for what has happened in this country for the last 30 years."
Mr Wilson rejected the remarks: "It's quite clear and my record shows that I have been involved in no such activity." Addressing other anti-agreement unionists Mr Hutchinson said they should realise that when they attack any part of unionism they attack it all.
Mr Hutchinson said the Belfast Agreement and the Assembly represented the "future for my children" and everyone else in the North.