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SDLP clashes with DUP over border poll in the Commons

The DUP's Sammy Wilson says concerns about border controls were just another scare story
The DUP's Sammy Wilson says concerns about border controls were just another scare story The DUP's Sammy Wilson says concerns about border controls were just another scare story

NATIONALIST and unionist MPs have clashed in the Commons over fears about the border with the Republic in the wake of the vote to leave the EU.

The SDLP's Dr Alasdair McDonnell warned on Tuesday that the uncertainty about the border could erode the fragile political settlement and lead to renewed dissident and paramilitary activity.

Shadow Northern Ireland minister Stephen Pound insisted that a Brexit would result in a "division" between the two countries.

But DUP MP Sammy Wilson said concerns about border controls were just another scare story "without any substance".

In a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament, Dr McDonnell stressed the need for the British government to guarantee at least one Northern Ireland representative at the Brexit negotiating table.

The north may also have to make "common cause" with Scotland and Gibraltar, whose populations also voted to remain with the EU, he added.

The Belfast South MP said: "I believe that Northern Ireland's interests cannot receive the full recognition or the full protection they deserve unless Northern Ireland has at least one, preferably two, seats at the negotiating table as we go forward," he said.

"Further uncertainty around what the border will look like in 10 years' time leaves us vulnerable to those that will seek to take advantage of that uncertainty and weakened state, including dissident and other paramilitaries.

"And I don't make that as a threat – I make that as an observation."

Labour's Mr Pound, a pro-Remain campaigner, said the government must accept the "dark clouds over Northern Ireland".

"If anyone thinks for a moment that the history of Ireland somehow means that there will not be a hard border, a soft border, a customs border, a tariff border, a physical border – there will be a border," he said.

"There cannot be a negotiation when one party has decided to leave the relationship. That is the reality."

But Mr Wilson said there had so far been no political appetite for new border controls.

The East Antrim MP said: "This is one of the scare stories that was used by those who have tried to persuade people in Northern Ireland that leaving the EU is not in their interests.

"Again we have heard the same rhetoric but there is not substance to it.

"The Irish government has said they do not wish to have border controls, the British government has said they do not wish to have border controls, the Northern Ireland assembly has said they don't wish to have border controls and we already have seen through history how the common travel area has worked effectively to ensure that there is no need for border controls."

Comments by Ireland's premier raising the prospect of a future vote on Irish unity in the wake of Brexit have been branded pathetic and deliberately mischievous by a senior unionist.

Ian Paisley Jnr said he "expected better" from taoiseach Enda Kenny after the Fine Gael leader said EU/UK negotiations should factor in the possibility that a border poll could be held in years to come.

Referring to recent intense scrutiny of Mr Kenny's role as leader of a minority administration in Dublin, the Democratic Unionist North Antrim MP said the taoiseach's time would be better served concentrating on his own future.

"It's quite pathetic – one would have expected better from him," said Mr Paisley.

The taoiseach's remarks came 24 hours after Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin voiced support for a potential border poll in the context of the north voting to remain in the EU.

"The taoiseach is being deliberately mischievous," said Mr Paisley.

"Enda should really be concentrating on his own future because we all know that he'll be lucky if he's still taoiseach in 18 months.

"He's trying to 'out-green' Fianna Fáil for electoral gain, that's all they are about. There's not going to be a border poll, that's the bottom line."

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams welcomed Mr Kenny's remarks, made at the MacGill Summer School in Co Donegal on Monday.

Mr Kenny acknowledged the prospect of a referendum was quite a distance away, noting the idea would be "fanciful" to some, but he said the possibility should still be examined during UK/EU negotiations on Brexit.

Mr Adams said the debate on a unity vote was a chance to look at relations on the island.

"You are never going to get a border poll unless the Irish government is for it," he said.

"The taoiseach's language was qualified insofar as he said it won't happen at this time, that's fair enough, the fact is he has raised the concept and he has said he is going to make this part of the Brexit negotiations and that is good."

The taoiseach said: "The discussion and negotiations that take place over the next period should take into account the possibility, however far out it might be, that the clause in the Good Friday Agreement might be triggered, in that if there is a clear evidence of a majority of people wishing to leave the United Kingdom and join the Republic, that should be catered for in the discussions.

"Because if that possibility were to happen, you would have Northern Ireland wishing to leave the United Kingdom, not being a member of the European Union, and joining the Republic, which will be a member of the EU."

Mr Kenny went on to liken the scenario to East Germany having been able to adopt EU membership when it was reunified with West Germany.

UUP assembly member Jenny Palmer described the comments as "much ado about nothing".

"Everyone who approaches the border poll issue with an ounce of sense recognises, as the Taoiseach did yesterday, that there has to be evidence that a majority is likely to vote to change our constitutional position before a border poll can be triggered," she said.

"The bottom line is that the evidence simply does not exist.

"Recent comments from various political quarters regarding the possibility of a border poll really amount to much ado about nothing.

"The priority in the wake of the (EU) referendum is for the Northern Ireland executive to convince the people of Northern Ireland that they have a plan for the way forward for our economy, our farmers, our voluntary and community groups, our universities and everyone else who depends heavily on EU funding and support."

Home Office minister Robert Goodwill said the two countries share a common objective of preserving the common travel area and avoiding a hard border.

"It has been agreed that the UK and Ireland would work together on priority areas within the British-Irish relationship in the forthcoming negotiations on the future relationship between the UK and the EU.

"The government will ensure the interests of all parts of the UK are protected," he said.

Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, the power to call a border poll rests with the secretary of state. But the accord stipulates that such a vote can only be called if there is evidence of a clear shift of public opinion in favour of Irish unity in Northern Ireland.

Secretary of state James Brokenshire has insisted the outcome of the referendum did not provide grounds for triggering a vote on Irish unity.