Politics

Brexit implications overlooked by British ahead of vote

Stephen Farry called for a second referendum on EU membership. Picture by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye
Stephen Farry called for a second referendum on EU membership. Picture by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye Stephen Farry called for a second referendum on EU membership. Picture by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye

The British government gave no consideration to Northern Ireland’s fortunes ahead of the EU referendum, Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry has said.

The North Down MLA said the “logically inevitable” outcome of a pro-Brexit vote had come to pass and the north was now “faced with the prospect of a border and placed in an untenable economic position”.

Mr Farry’s remarks came as he addressed the Alliance annual conference at Belfast’s Stormont Hotel on Saturday.

The Alliance deputy leader said Brexit was feeding into a “wider rise of nationalism and populism” that was undermining the “liberal, international order”.

He said the implications for Northern Ireland were “both political and economic”.

“This is a complex, diverse and sadly divided society,” he said.

“It can only work through sharing and interdependence – yet the implications of Brexit are new border, barriers, division and friction.”

Mr Farry said Brexit presented an “existential threat to the concept of a shared and cohesive Northern Ireland”.

“Brexit has thrown the constitutional question back on the table in contrast to a situation where despite the legitimate competing aspirations of unionists and nationalists, it had largely been parked,” he said.

“In conjunction with the ongoing cultural war and the trench warfare of what has passed for a talks process over the past year, it has fed an increased polarisation in our politics.”

The North Down MLA said the British government should offer a second referendum on EU membership customs union.

“This would go a long way, but not the whole way, to avoiding the inevitability of some form of border emerging within these islands.

“Yet, this is also fundamentally in the interests of the UK as a whole.”