Ulster ‘needs voice in Brexit talks’
NORTHERN IRELAND needs a voice at the Brexit talks table, Jeremy Corbyn has said.
The Labour leader visited an Irish border bridge yesterday as part of his two-day tour of the country.
The porous 300-mile frontier is one of the most-vexed issues facing negotiators in Brussels, but Northern Ireland has no ministers to intervene since devolved government at Stormont collapsed more than a year ago.
Addressing a meeting of business leaders in Londonderry, Mr Corbyn said: “Please, to the parties in Stormont: you have to come together to re-form a government there. It is impossible to go through a period so crucial as Brexit negotiations without a voice for Northern Ireland being made at the table by the political classes in Northern Ireland.
“I hope they understand that message and I hope that we can make very rapid progress.”
A “backstop” border option, if no other deal is reached, would see Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK follow Brussels regulations relating to co-operation in Ireland to protect frictionless all-island trade. The British Government has said it is focused on securing a customs deal which would avoid the need for such a backstop and has ruled out anything which would create a regulatory difference between Northern Ireland and the UK.