Dodds fires back at demands over single market and customs union

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has warned that 'catastrophic damage' would be caused to NI if it was separated economically from the rest of the UK after Brexit.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd May 2018, 19:15 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 08:42 BST
Naomi Long, Colum Eastwood, Michelle ONeill and Steven Agnew in the Great Hall, Stormont on TuesdayNaomi Long, Colum Eastwood, Michelle ONeill and Steven Agnew in the Great Hall, Stormont on Tuesday
Naomi Long, Colum Eastwood, Michelle ONeill and Steven Agnew in the Great Hall, Stormont on Tuesday

Treating the Province separately to GB by keeping it in the single market and customs union would block the Province off from its biggest market, the Belfast North MP has claimed.

Mr Dodds issued the remarks in response to pro-Remain parties in Northern Ireland, who came together to insist that the DUP do not represent the majority view.

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In a rare move, leaders of Sinn Fein, the SDLP, Alliance and Green Party presented a united front at Stormont in calling for the UK to remain in the EU’s single market and customs union structures post-Brexit.

They believe that is the only way to avoid the re-emergence of a hard border on the island of Ireland post-Brexit.

Representing 49 out of the crisis-hit Assembly’s 90 seats, in a region where 56% voted Remain in the EU referendum, the party leaders claimed the UK government was not paying heed to the majority view, and instead indulging its Brexiteer confidence and supply partners at Westminster, the DUP.

But Mr Dodds hit back by saying that the joint statement by the four parties was “devoid of reality”, adding: “Even the Labour Party has made clear that the UK is leaving the single market and cannot stay in the customs union.”

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Mr Dodds said it is vital that NI “moves in lockstep” with its main market, adding that erecting trade barriers with GB was “not in the economic interests of anyone here, regardless of their background or political persuasion”.

Sinn Fein’s Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill said the EU negotiators needed to hear “loud and clear” that people in the Province wanted to remain within European structures.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the parties were not adopting a “political” position, rather a “sensible” one, while Alliance leader Naomi Long insisted the issue was not one that could be divided along traditional green or orange lines.

Green Party NI leader Steven Agnew said: “The people of NI voted to Remain and their voices are not being adequately represented, that’s why we have come together.”

Related topics:Nigel DoddsProvinceDUPBrexitMichelle O'NeillGreen PartyColum EastwoodSDLP