SDLP: Govt Has 'Rejected The Will' Of Northern Ireland

SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood has hit out at Prime Minister Theresa May's government for allowing "the dissolution of the Irish backstop" in order to progress Brexit negotiations.

The House of Commons last night approved a proposal to return to the EU and seek legal amendments to the backstop in a bid to strengthen the UK's negotiating position and break the current deadlock.

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists supported the plan to change the border provision, while Sinn Fein, the SDLP, Alliance and the Green Party have repeatedly expressed the importance of "banking the backstop".

Speaking from Westminster, Mr Eastwood said: "London have decided that the interests of the people in Northern Ireland are secondary to the needs of the Conservative Party. 

"The rejection of the Irish Backstop, the only viable mechanism to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland, is an affront on the Good Friday Agreement. 

"Let me be clear, the people of Northern Ireland did not consent to this. 

The Foyle MLA added: "We will continue to engage with the Irish Government to ensure that the Backstop, as reiterated by Brussels, will not be undermined in the slightest."

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein MP Chris Hazzard commented that Westminster must "wake up" to the fact that the backstop cannot be scrapped.



(JG/CM)