PMs bid to end N. Ireland political crisis

‘Brexit betrayal would thrust UK into crisis’

BELFAST, Feb 12, (Agencies): British Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish leader Leo Varadkar began talks with political parties in Northern Ireland on Monday to urge them to restore devolved government and avoid the introduction of direct rule from London.

The British province has been without a devolved executive for over a year since Irish nationalists Sinn Fein withdrew from a power-sharing government with their arch-rivals, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The two sides said on Friday progress had been made and a breakthrough was possible this week.

May and Varadkar met near Northern Ireland’s Stormont parliament on Monday, ahead of their individual meetings with the parties, Britain’s Northern Ireland Office said.

Meanwhile, if Prime Minister Theresa May allows Brexit to be watered down or halted by supporters of European Union membership, then Britain will be thrust into the gravest constitutional crisis since World War Two, Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said.

Farage, who as UKIP leader convinced Prime Minister Theresa May’s predecessor, David Cameron, to call the Brexit referendum and then helped lead the campaign to leave the EU, said Brexit was now in danger of being stopped by the establishment.

The 53-year-old former commodities trader cast May, who voted to stay in the EU, as “Theresa the appeaser” for giving in to the EU on almost every part of the Brexit negotiation and said Britain was being humiliated by the EU.

Despite often bad-tempered divorce negotiations, a majority of European businesses believe that EU-UK ties will continue without major disruption after Brexit, a survey revealed on Monday.

The surprising result came in a poll of 2,500 “senior decision makers” by the FTI consulting firm, which underlined that business leaders could be overly complacent to the dangers of Britain’s divorce from the European Union.

“We see fluctuations between countries and sectors but on the whole this is a surprisingly upbeat response,” said John Maloney, head of FTI Consulting’s Brexit taskforce.

The survey noted widespread optimism amongst the recipients, with a majority of companies confident that UK’s future relationship with the EU will maintain principles such as the free movement of people and oversight by the EU’s European Court of Justice.

This is especially surprising given that London has stated its firm intention to curb free movement and end the EU court’s jurisdiction over Britain.

The survey said that businesses are making light of current tensions, with the EU and Britain at loggerheads over the terms of a transition period after Brexit and big unknowns on future relations.

“The results hint at a misreading of the political reality,” said FTI’s Hans Heck, a former Dutch diplomat.

There is “little prospect of companies getting comfort on the future trade agreement any time soon,” he said.

Among the respondents, a big split existed on the fate of Britain’s access to the EU financial sector.

FTI said 71 percent of UK firms believed that the access will be retained, compared with 59 percent in Germany and 51 percent in France.