Northern Ireland

Jeremy Corbyn reiterates backing for united Ireland

Jeremy Corbyn's landslide election victory in the Labour leadership election has split unionists and nationalists Picture by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Jeremy Corbyn's landslide election victory in the Labour leadership election has split unionists and nationalists Picture by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Jeremy Corbyn's landslide election victory in the Labour leadership election has split unionists and nationalists Picture by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has reiterated his support for a united Ireland.

Speaking to the New Statesman magazine, Mr Corbyn said: "It's an aspiration that I have always gone along with.”

The MP for Islington North has been a long-standing supporter of a united Ireland. He arranged a meeting with Gerry Adams in London in 1984 and in 1996 was accused of "traitorous" behaviour for helping Mr Adams promote his autobiography inside the Houses of Parliament.

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said: "Nothing Jeremy Corbyn says about Northern Ireland is going to be helpful or is designed to be helpful.

"What we now need is for the Labour Party to clarify its position on the principle of consent and Jeremy Corbyn needs to make clear whether he stands by the agreements made by Tony Blair which put the issue of consent at the heart of the constitutional arrangement in Northern Ireland."

The Ulster Unionist Party said it had been assured that Labour was committed to the consent principles when officials met shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker earlier this week.

Tom Elliott MP said: "He was very clear that Labour is committed to the consent principle as set out in the Belfast Agreement. Indeed he has also been unambiguous in the House of Commons that this is the position. What we have here is a party leader who is out of step with his own party's position."

The UUP has requested a meeting with Mr Corbyn.

During the Troubles Mr Corbyn regularly addressed meetings of the Troops Out movement, urging the withdrawal of British troops from the north, and caused controversy by inviting Gerry Adams to Westminster in 1984, just weeks after the Brighton bomb.

In 1985 he spoke out against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, saying “the agreement strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a united Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason”.

In July this year, Gerry Adams tweeted a photograph of himself and other members of Sinn Féin having coffee at Westminster with Mr Corbyn at the same table.