May and EU must not be allowed to create united Ireland: Hoey
NORTHERN Ireland-born Labour MP Kate Hoey has said PM Theresa May and “a few jumpedup EU bureaucrats” must not be allowed to facilitate a united Ireland “by the back door”.
Ms Hoey was speaking at a Leave Means Leave rally in London on Friday night.
Among the other speakers were the DUP’s Brexit spokesperson Sammy Wilson, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage and Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Ms Hoey, who is originally from Co Antrim, has been the Labour MP for Vauxhall since 1989.
She has campaigned strongly for Brexit, despite her constituency voting overwhelmingly to Remain in the EU, and was heavily criticised in February when she said the Good Friday Agreement was “unsustainable”.
Speaking at the Leave Means Leave rally, Ms Hoey said she was “very proud to be pro-union”.
“We didn’t spend 30 years in Northern Ireland stopping IRA terrorists killing soldiers, police, and civilians, in order to get a united Ireland to allow a few jumped-up EU bureaucrats and a complicit prime minister to try and do the same thing by the back door,” she said.
“Even more ridiculous is that it would not even be in the economic interests of Northern Ireland, who depend so much of their trade, to and from Britain.
“Why is a British Prime Minister dancing to the tune of an Irish Taoiseach? There’s no need for a hard border and there’s no need for a backstop.”
Northern Ireland comedian Patrick Kielty, an outspoken critic of Brexit, reacted angrily to Mrs Hoey’s comments.
“She’s right. We didn’t. We’ve spent 20 years building peace in Northern Ireland. Then seen a united Ireland become more possible thanks to a few jumped up Brexiteers who say they’re actually Unionists,” he wrote on Twitter. “You couldn’t make it up (so they do instead).”
Speaking at the rally, Mr Wilson, the East Antrim MP, said the DUP did not want “assurances” on Mrs May’s deal, they didn’t want the deal “full stop”.