Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAYDAY MISSION
Prime Minister flies into Belfast to sell Brexit deal
THERESA May will be in Northern Ireland today on a mission to save her Brexit deal.
The Prime Minister will arrive in Belfast where she will meet the DUP and Sinn Fein as part of a frantic campaign to sell the withdrawal agreement all over the UK.
She said: “This deal avoids a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. This has been at
the forefront of my mind throughout the negotiations.
“It has been especially clear to me when I have visited communities along the border in Northern Ireland and seen first-hand how important it is the unique circumstances local employers face are recognised in any agreement.
“They need to be able to trade freely across the border with Ireland and have unfettered access to the rest of the United Kingdom’s market.
“This deal makes that possible and that’s why, across Northern Ireland, employers large and small have been getting behind it.
“Having been told by the EU we would need to split the UK in two, we are leaving as one United Kingdom.”
The move comes after business leaders met the DUP yesterday.
The talks came in the wake of MP Sammy Wilson labelling groups who have backed the deal “the puppets of the Northern Ireland Office”.
It had the potential to sour relations but Angela Mcgowan, of CBI NI, insisted: “We haven’t taken that comment too seriously so I think we’ll all just try to put that to bed and move forward.”
Today, Mrs May will attend a community event at Queen’s University Belfast, for “roundtable discussions with groups from across society including students, academics and community and religious leaders”. That event is expected to be followed by meetings with all five political parties in Belfast.
It is expected she will “urge politicians to listen to major employers and trade associations in Northern Ireland and get behind the deal”.
Over the past week, Manufacturing NI and the Ulster Farmers’ Union have expressed their support for the agreement and publicly warned about the potential consequences of no deal for Northern Ireland.
The UFU support led to a spat between the organisation and Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon with the Strangford rep claiming they did not represent all farming opinion.
Earlier, business leaders warned the UK leaving the EU without a deal would be “disastrous” for the region.
A delegation including representatives from retail, hospitality and manufacturing bodies met pro-remain parties Sinn Fein, the SDLP, Alliance and the Green Party in a joint meeting at Stormont.
They later met DUP leader Arlene Foster and MEP Diane Dodds.
Mrs Foster said: “This was a useful meeting where we were able to outline why the Withdrawal Agreement would be bad for the long-term Northern Ireland economy.”
They need to be able to trade freely across the border
THERESA MAY YESTERDAY