ARCH Brexiteer Kate Hoey has said Northern Ireland was "sacrificed" so that Britain could sever ties with the European Union.
The Co Antrim-born former Labour MP faced social media criticism in the wake her comments on GB News on Monday, with many people highlighting a previous piece she had written highlighting the potential benefits of Brexit for the north.
Her May 2016 platform in the eurosceptic Daily Telegraph claimed the UK leaving the EU wouldn't harm the region but would instead "brighten its future".
Baroness Hoey told GB News viewers that it was acknowledged by some that Northern Ireland would be adversely affected by Brexit but it was deemed acceptable so the policy could be realised.
She implied she didn’t agree with these people.
“I think we all kind of know how we got here, that Northern Ireland was sacrificed because it could have been that we weren’t going to get Brexit at all," she said.
“I personally couldn’t vote for the Withdrawal Agreement because of Northern Ireland but I could understand many of my colleagues in the Leave campaign because they have to do it.”
Baroness Hoey also said that the UK should not be scared to invoke Article 16 to send “shockwaves” across the EU.
Among those criticising the former MP was author and LBC presenter James O'Brien.
"It’s not just Kate Hoey who repeatedly claimed that Brexit posed no problems for Northern Ireland – (Jacob) Rees Mogg was particularly adamant about it," he said.
Baroness Hoey, who has a holiday home on Rathlin Island in the North Antrim constituency, also indicated that she was likely to vote for the DUP.
