:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/DSFRP4ZOIOTXADOG4IDM6Y5JA4.jpg)
The Ulster Unionist Party has warned againt Brexit being used as an excuse to break up the United Kingdom after it emerged there had been attempts to include provisions for a future united Ireland in Britain's EU departure talks.
Jim Nicholson, a UUP member of the European Parliament, said "neither Dublin or Brussels speaks for Northern Ireland" in response to the Financial Times story on Friday.
EU leaders, excluding Britain’s prime minister, could be asked to endorse the idea at a European Council meeting in Brussels on Saturday which will see the formal adoption of the EU guidelines for Brexit negotiations with Theresa May’s government.
It is expected the provision for Irish unity will not form part of the guidelines for the exit negotiations but would be outlined in a separate declaration.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6ZGHTI5WWVISYSPYOMSTYIIRME.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/KYYMRI5WYKPNWLNV3H4W54Y5BI.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/Z2WTIUSU4I5JMYME3O3LAXG3RU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QOGD7UMZXUTVMT7WLYTUBMETXQ.jpg)
In March the British government acknowledged for the first time, in a letter from Brexit secretary David Davis to Foyle MP Mark Durkan, that as per the Belfast Agreement, if the North ever voted in a referendum to become part of a united Ireland it “would be in a position to become part of an existing member state rather than seeking to join the EU as a new independent state”.
Mr Nicholson said it “is disappointing to see that some are using Brexit as an excuse to try to break up the United Kingdom”.
‘Cherry picked’
He said Brussels needed to be clear that the Belfast Agreement “cannot be cherry-picked”.
“It affirmed the fact that Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom as long as the majority of its people wish to remain so,” he added.
“This also means that any ‘special status’ that puts a de facto border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain risks breaching the Agreement. “Those who claim to respect the Belfast Agreement need to realise that the future of Northern Ireland will be decided only by the people of Northern Ireland, not by those trying to play politics in Dublin and Brussels.”
Speaking to reporters in west Belfast on Friday, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said the draft guidelines on Brexit already published “fall short of what Ireland, including the North, needs”.
He said it was “hard to distinguish between the substance and the spin” but it appeared that the Government may be seeking amendments to the guidelines. He said that while welcome new, he feared it “may be too little too late”.
Mr Adams said the Government in Dublin had a responsibility and duty to uphold the North’s remain vote in the Brexit referendum.
He urged the Taoiseach to “look for political declarations in these guidelines” which afforded special designated status for the North in the EU.
On reports that EU leaders were preparing to recognise there is potential for a united Ireland in the post-Brexit EU, Mr Adams said that was to be welcomed.
He said Irish unity reportedly being one of three priorities on the table at Saturday’s meeting was “a very modest, simple, but very welcome step in the right direction...”. He asked if this would be “a note in the minutes” or a political directive as part of the guidelines.