Northern Ireland

People Before Profit accuses Sinn Féin over anti-Brexit posters

Brexit poster outside the office of People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll on the Falls Road in West Belfast Picture by Hugh Russell.
Brexit poster outside the office of People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll on the Falls Road in West Belfast Picture by Hugh Russell. Brexit poster outside the office of People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll on the Falls Road in West Belfast Picture by Hugh Russell.

PEOPLE before Profit has accused Sinn Féin of putting up an anti-Brexit poster which claims the socialist and Eurosceptic party is in favour of a hard border.

Sinn Féin has put up a series of anti-Brexit posters in Belfast, including several on the Falls Road in the west of the city.

The purple posters say 'Stand with Sinn Féin, stand against Brexit'.

A separate poster was put up outside People Before Profit (PBP) MLA Gerry Carroll's office on the Falls Road.

The poster, which is not marked with any Sinn Féin branding, said 'Brexit hard border - brought to you by the Tories, the DUP, the Ulster Unionists and People Before Profit'.

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However, Mr Carroll claimed last night Sinn Féin was behind the poster and accused the republican party of "a clear attempt to to distort our position".

The West Belfast MLA campaigned in favour of Brexit. Last year, he fought the general election on an "anti-Tory Brexit" platform.

At the time, he said the party "remain opposed to the undemocratic nature of the EU and have not changed our position since the referendum but we will not support Theresa May’s vision of a Tory Brexit, nor her dismissal of concerns in devolved regions".

But he said yesterday his party was strongly opposed to a hard border.

"The fact is that PBP are the only all-Ireland party demanding a vote in the north and in the south on the terms of the Brexit deal - Sinn Féin are not," he said.

"We are the only party demanding that Leo Varadkar uses the Irish government's veto on a Brexit deal which includes a hard border - Sinn Féin are not.

"We are the only party calling for civil disobedience at the border if Leo Varadkar or the EU tries to implement one - Sinn Féin are not."

Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey said: "Gerry Carroll is desperate to try to distance himself from the fact that People Before Profit campaigned for Brexit, voted for Brexit and acted as a cheerleader for Brexit.

"In doing so he aligned himself to the hard line Brexiteers in the Tories, the DUP and the ultra right wing UKIP who are on course to deliver a hard Brexit which will devastate our economy, result in an assault on our rights and on the Good Friday Agreement."