NI leaders scramble to give Brexit and devolution pledges
BREXIT and restoring devolution have dominated eve-of-poll messages from Northern Ireland’s political leaders.
More than 1,000 polling stations across the region will open at 7am today to decide which 18 MPS will represent the region in the House of Commons.
Arlene Foster urged voters to back her party’s candidates, emphasising that “every vote will count”.
She pledged her party will “get Northern
Ireland moving again with a re-established Executive” as well as protect the region’s place in the UK and “protect against a border in the Irish Sea”.
Sinn Fein’s NI leader Michelle O’neill said it was an opportunity for voters to “reject the toxic politics of Brexit and the DUP”.
“It is your opportunity to vote for a new, progressive and inclusive Ireland within the EU Vote for hope over fear, unity over division – Votail Sinn Fein,” she tweeted.
The Ulster Unionist Party tweeted its final message to voters, promising to “bin Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, defend our NHS, protect our planet and build a better future for NI”.
SDLP leader Colum
Eastwood – who is running as a candidate in Foyle – described the General Election as an “opportunity to send MPS to Westminster who will vote against Brexit”, as well as sending a “message to the DUP and Sinn Fein that it’s time to get back to work”.
“We’re now strongly in the territory of a hung parliament where every vote will count in the fight to stop Brexit,” he said.
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said the election will “decide our future relationship with Europe”.
She urged those who are angry and frustrated at the three-year collapse of Stormont, Brexit and the potential of a hard border to vote for her party.
Some 1,293,971 eligible voters can cast their ballots in Northern Ireland.