A PRESSURE group has said a ‘yes’ result in any future border poll will need the consent of the British parliament.
Unionist Voice Policy Studies (UVPS) made the submission as part of a recent Seanad Public Consultation Committee public consultation on the constitutional future of Ireland.
Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement a referendum on the future of the north can be triggered by the secretary of state of the day.
With nationalists continuing to push for unity and the results of the latest census expected today, which could show a Catholic majority in the north for the first time, momentum for a vote could gather pace.
In a letter to the committee this month, UVPS said a vote held under the GFA “is not self-executing” and proposals must be put forward, which parliament can reject.
UVPS spokesman Jamie Bryson last night said: "It seems to me most nationalists, and probably the Irish government, don’t actually understand that the Belfast agreement doesn't in fact require the UK government of the day to give effect to the result of any border poll - the holding of which would entirely undermine peace in Northern Ireland.
"But rather merely to lay a proposal before parliament, which could legitimately reject it entirely consistently with the Belfast agreement."
UVPS has offered to provide oral evidence to the committee if invited.
