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Sammy Wilson hits back at 'devilish Euro maniac' Donald Tusk after Brexiteer hell jibe

Sammy Wilson (left) was heavily critical of Donald Tusk over remarks about some Brexiteers and their lack of a plan 
Sammy Wilson (left) was heavily critical of Donald Tusk over remarks about some Brexiteers and their lack of a plan 

DUP MP Sammy Wilson has criticised Donald Tusk after the European Council president said there will be "a special place in hell" for those who promoted Brexit without any plan for how to deliver it safely.

Mr Tusk's comments came as he repeated the EU's insistence that the Withdrawal Agreement reached with Theresa May last year cannot be reopened to remove the backstop arrangement for the Irish border.

He was speaking alongside Taoiseach Leo Varadkar following talks in Brussels in which they discussed preparations for what Mr Tusk described as the "fiasco" of a no-deal Brexit on March 29.

DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said: "Donald Tusk once again shows his contempt for the 17.4 million people who voted to escape the corruption of the EU and seek the paradise of a free and prosperous kingdom.

"This devilish Euro maniac is doing his best to keep the United Kingdom bound by the chains of EU bureaucracy and control.

"It is Tusk and his arrogant EU negotiators who have fanned the flames of fear in an attempt to try and overturn the result of the referendum.

"All he will succeed in doing is stiffening the resistance of those who have exercised their choice to be clear of Tusk and his trident-wielding cabal."

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Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald backed Mr Tusk's comments that there is a "special place in hell" for Brexiteers without a plan.

"You are not going to convince me that anything Donald Tusk says could further harden the position of the Boris Johnsons' or the Rees-Moggs' of this world," she said.

"They are people who have acted with absolute contempt for this country, utter disregard for the experiences of Irish people north and south, with utter disregard for the peace process that has been collectively built over decades.

"Their position is the most hardline of hardline, it is their language that is intemperate and it is their position that is untenable."

Meanwhile, the British prime minister began a round of meetings with the north's political leaders in her hunt for a breakthrough on the Irish backstop impasse.

She is due to meet Mr Tusk as well as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on a visit to Brussels on Thursday.

Mr Tusk said the EU was not making "any new offer" and was hoping to hear from Mrs May "a realistic suggestion on how to end the impasse in which the process of the orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU has found itself following the latest votes in the House of Commons."

He said the Irish border issue and the need to preserve the peace process remained the EU's "top priority", adding: "We will not gamble with peace or put a sell-by date on reconciliation. This is why we insist on the backstop."

In a message to Mrs May, Mr Tusk said: "Give us a deliverable guarantee for peace in Northern Ireland and the UK will leave the EU as a trusted friend.

"I hope that the UK Government will present ideas that will both respect this point of view and at the same time command a stable and clear majority in the House of Commons.

"I strongly believe that a common solution is possible and I will do everything in my power to find it."

But he concluded: "By the way, I have been wondering what that special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan to carry it (out) safely."

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