Northern Ireland

Arlene Foster: ‘North cannot remain in EU as Britain leaves'

First Minister Arlene Foster has insisted the north cannot remain in the EU. Picture by Liam McBurney, Press Association
First Minister Arlene Foster has insisted the north cannot remain in the EU. Picture by Liam McBurney, Press Association First Minister Arlene Foster has insisted the north cannot remain in the EU. Picture by Liam McBurney, Press Association

FIRST Minister Arlene Foster has insisted the north cannot remain within the European Union while Britain leaves.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested her country could stay in the EU while the rest of the UK exits the bloc.

The north and Scotland both voted to remain and politicians including deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have said the decision of the electorate in both countries should be respected.

But Mrs Foster insisted "the whole of the UK is leaving".

"The very basic fundamental is that we are leaving the European Union," she told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme yesterday.

She added: "My job, along with Martin McGuinness is now to get the best deal possible for all of the people of Northern Ireland, that's what I'm determined to do."

However, Mr McGuinness said a majority of the north's electorate voted to stay in the EU.

He said he believed the assembly would vote to remain.

"Theresa May, in the aftermath of her meeting with Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland, indicated that she wouldn't trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty unless all parts of what she would describe as the United Kingdom are satisfied," he said.

"Well, we are not satisfied.

"And if that effectively hands a veto to Scotland and to us in the north then we will use it and I think I can deliver a vote in the assembly which rejects any attempt to drag us, against our will, out of Europe."

Mrs May has previously said she will not trigger Article 50 - the mechanism which would start the UK's exit from the EU - until a nationwide approach was agreed.

"I have already said that I won't be triggering Article 50 until I think that we have a UK approach and objectives for negotiations - I think it is important that we establish that before we trigger Article 50," she said.

On Friday, new Secretary of State James Brokenshire dismissed the idea that the north could negotiate separately to remain within the EU.

"I think that rather than injecting instability and uncertainty into this, we now need to get on to implement, to actually ensure that we drive that positive vision for the future," he said.

Mr Brokenshire, who is visiting the north for he first time as Secretary of State today, said although he campaigned to remain within the EU the UK now needs to "look to that future outside of the European Union".

He said one of his priorities is ensuring a 'hard' Irish border does not return.

"I am very conscious about what this means for the border," he said. "I've already had conversations with Frances Fitzgerald, the Irish interior minister, to really emphasise the need for good, close collaboration and working so that we can ensure we're not seeing the return of borders coming into place. I believe there's a really strong commitment from both governments to achieve that."