FORMER justice minster Clare Sugden has said she believes the British government's approach to Brexit "screwed us".
The independent unionist MLA also said that the Westminster approach to a Leave vote in the 2016 referendum was, "let's cross that bridge when we come to it".
Ms Sugden made the comments in an interview for the Institute for Government series, in which Stormont ministers have shared their experiences of power-sharing.
Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry, former UUP minister Danny Kennedy and ex-Sinn Féin finance minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir are among the politicians who contributed to the interviews.
Reflecting on her time as justice minister from 2016 to 2017, with her appointment coming just weeks before the Leave vote, Ms Sugden said "it was as big a shock to me as it was to anyone else".
"I think really it was very whirlwind and it was very much enveloped in the politics around it," she said.
"I think given my age at the time, given the fact that I was a unionist and I suppose even just the kind of first of (someone like) me getting the role in particular, meant that there was a lot of politics and media attention around it."
Asked about issues surrounding Brexit during her time in office, Ms Sudgen said the "referendum happened probably less than a month after I became minister, so I don’t really recall having any discussions prior to that".
"If I’m honest I’m not sure anyone expected that outcome," she said.
"That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have prepared for that potential outcome, but I probably wasn’t in the department long enough even if they were. But I’d hazard a guess in saying they weren’t (prepared).
"And I do recall this moment when senior civil servants were saying to me: 'you know we really need to prepare for this' - because of the potential consequences around things like the European Arrest Warrant, Interpol and all those sorts of things.
"So there very much was a concern in that respect, not least because of the island of Ireland and the border arrangements."
She also said: "I’m not sure the UK government were very responsive either.
"I don’t know, I feel the British government generally with Brexit has just been very: 'let’s cross that bridge when we come to it; we might not need to plan because it might not happen'," she added.
"And then it does happen and we’re all screwed, to be honest."
