‘Sinn Fein MPS won’t be able to alter outcome of Westminster Brexit vote’
Mcdonald slams ‘arrogant’ Varadkar
SINN Fein leader Mary Lou Mcdonald has remained defiant on her party’s abstentionism policy.
She rejected Leo Varadkar’s call for the party’s seven MPS to take their seats at Westminster ahead of next month’s crucial Brexit vote.
The Taoiseach said if Sinn Fein was unwilling to change its stance, its representatives should resign.
But Ms Mcdonald responded: “The Taoiseach is clearly mixing and using Brexit to make politics and to take a poke at Sinn Fein.
“His arrogance is extraordinary. The arrogance of the man to suggest those who voted for their MPS in a free and open democratic contest somehow got it wrong.”
She described Mr Varadkar as “an individual from a party that has abstained from Northern politics for generations, that walked away and never looked behind”.
Ms Mcdonald told RTE’S Today With Sean O’rourke:
“I do think it is extraor- dinary an Irish Taoiseach, the head of government, would be encouraging, cajoling, suggesting, ballyragging even, elected people, elected from the Irish section in the North, to go to a British parliament and take an oath of allegiance to a foreign power. I find that incredible.”
She claimed a change in policy would make no real difference at Westminster, where Sinn Fein hold seven of 605 seats. The party abandoned a similar approach in the Dail in the 1980s and now holds 21 seats.
Meanwhile, Ms Mcdonald last night insisted there can be no renegotiation of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
She was speaking after a Sinn Fein delegation met with British Prime Minister Theresa May at Stormont.
She said: “No one should be under any illusions – there is no good in this unwanted Brexit for Ireland. The people here voted to remain.
“The backstop as contained in the withdrawal agreement is the bottom line. It’s not perfect but it is the least worst option and the alternative is a catastrophic crash out.”