Foster slams the '˜aggressive' stance of Dublin over Brexit and border

The News Letter asked Theresa Villiers and Arlene Foster about something that they had said in their consecutive talks to the Policy Exchange conference in London (see below for main story on the event).
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd May 2018, 09:19 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 08:40 BST
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Ms Villiers had outlined some of the detailed proposals that the British government had put forward to solve the border problem and Mrs Foster had said that those who were trying to use the border as a wedge would fail.

We asked them about the perception that in fact it seemed at times that such tactics, including hardline tactics from Dublin, were proving successful and that it might even seem as if Britain was being quite weak in response to the tactics.

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Ms Villiers in her reply sidestepped the question about the UK having seemed weak, and said: “We need to continue to make the positive case for settling this in a sensible way. It is in nobody’s interest to introduce unnecessary new infrastructure at the border.

DUP leader Arlene Foster speaking at a Policy Exchange conference titled The Union and Unionism - Past, Present and Future, in central London. Photo: PADUP leader Arlene Foster speaking at a Policy Exchange conference titled The Union and Unionism - Past, Present and Future, in central London. Photo: PA
DUP leader Arlene Foster speaking at a Policy Exchange conference titled The Union and Unionism - Past, Present and Future, in central London. Photo: PA

“As I set out in my speech we have now got a wave of experts telling us, we should not let the politics of the situation and the understandable wish of the EU to keep us in the single market, that shouldn’t be used as a block against coming up with a workable solution.

“None of us want that new physical hard border to be introduced, there is a way that we can get on with that.”

Mrs Foster also sidestepped the possible perception of London weakness when she answered: “I think that the narrative around the border has been very misleading.”

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She added; “The borders of the past were there for a particular reason, they were there for security reasons, they were not there to stop the flow of milk up and down between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Theresa Villiers, the former secretary of state for Northern Ireland, at the Policy Exchange seminar on unionism, held Great George Street, Westminster on Monday May 21 2018.Theresa Villiers, the former secretary of state for Northern Ireland, at the Policy Exchange seminar on unionism, held Great George Street, Westminster on Monday May 21 2018.
Theresa Villiers, the former secretary of state for Northern Ireland, at the Policy Exchange seminar on unionism, held Great George Street, Westminster on Monday May 21 2018.

“I think you need to go into the 1960s to see how things happened before the Troubles and see the way that people were able to trade easily across the border before we entered the European Union and before we entered the Troubles that we have suffered from this past 40 years, so of course there are solutions.”

She said: “I think our worry as unionists have been, and you referred to it, the very, very aggressive nature of the Irish government.

“That has been a change it has to be said from the last government, from Enda Kenny’s government, it has been quite aggressive and I believe it has led a lot of unionists in Northern Ireland to think is this just about the European Union or is it about something else?”

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Mrs Foster added: “Is it about trying to claim a fourth green field in terms of Northern Ireland?”

• Myths are being peddled about the border, DUP leader says• Morning View: Poll results give boost to unionists but there are challenges ahead

Related topics:Arlene FosterBrexitLondonNorthern Ireland