Former British prime minister John Major yesterday said he did not believe a change of government in the UK would adversely affect obtaining a resolution to the impasse in Northern Ireland.
He said he believed that if Michael Howard was returned as prime minister, the Northern Ireland talks would be successfully resolved. He said the progress would continue "unless something colossally stupid happens." He told the Irish Family Business conference in University College Cork that "the underlying situation is not easy, both loyalists and the IRA have a psychological block to decommissioning. Slowly and inexorably, we are moving towards the solution."