Belfast Briefing: Johnson hears some home truths

Northern Ireland has "absolutely nothing to be concerned" about when it comes to leaving the European Union, according to London's pro-Brexit mayor Boris Johnson.

The Conservative is adamant a departure could be “good news” for the North, particularly for its farmers and fishing communities. Not only could subsidies be “better tailored” to their needs, but there would also be the possibilities of new export markets. As far as Johnson is concerned no one would be any worse off.

Johnson was in the North for a flying visit to confirm a £62 million (€80 million) deal between Transport for London and the family-owned bus builder Wright Group for another 195 red London Routemaster buses. Johnson was at his affable best heaping praise on Northern Ireland firms while warning that the UK now "needs a different relationship with Europe".

He described the Routemaster bus produced by the Ballymena-headquartered Wright Group as a “masterpiece of British engineering and design” while using the factory floor in Antrim as a platform to suggest it was time the UK re-engineered its relationship with the EU.

Different direction

He believes the UK is going in a different direction to the EU which, he claims, is trying to create a political union based around the euro.

Brandishing a sledgehammer on his visits to Windell, the commercial and security glazing company in Magherafelt, as he tested a safety glass panel, Johnson conveyed the image of a man determined to shatter Northern Ireland's confidence in the EU. But like Windell's glazing systems, that might be something that can withstand a great deal of pressure.

Just days ago British prime minister David Cameron, also on a flying visit to the North, warned that 50,000 local jobs could be linked to trade with the EU and that about 40 per cent of Northern Ireland's investment also comes from the EU.

Cameron also highlighted that 60 per cent of the North’s exports go to the EU and warned that leaving the single market of 500 million people would be a “leap in the dark”.

He particularly stressed the uncertainty over what could happen with Northern Ireland’s land border with another EU member state if Brexit went ahead. Not that the border was something Johnson seemed particularly concerned about as he attended a business reception hosted by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce.

Against the historic backdrop of Hillsborough Castle, Johnson urged business leaders not to fall victim to what he described as “Project Fear”: Johnson says there is an attempt to scare people into staying “with the status quo” rather than taking the chance to “make a change”.

Will he convince the North’s business community that it will be protected and flourish if the UK does go it alone from the European Union?

Continuity of trade

President of the NI Chamber Stephen McCully took the opportunity to tell the mayor that a survey by NI Chamber and the British Chambers of Commerce recently suggested that 81 per cent of business people in Northern Ireland will vote to remain in the European Union with just 11 per cent supporting an exit.

“What I’m hearing from members is real concern about the investment hiatus and uncertainty that this referendum creates. There is also concern about connections and the continuity of trade into important markets,” he added.

McCully says that economically Northern Ireland is now firmly on the bus and is “embarking on a journey of real promise in respect of economic recovery and growth”. He warned Johnson that, as far as local businesses are concerned, “there are extreme risks looming in the contemplation of having to “hop off” and “hop on” to another bus where the destination is “far from certain”.