Mary Lou McDonald: Sinn Fein has no business in Westminster

Sinn Fein’s seven elected MPs do not take their seats in the House of Commons, despite repeated calls to do so during key Brexit votes.

On whether Sinn Fein would ever take their seats, Mary Lou McDonald told Andrew Marr on Sunday that the seven votes would be ineffectual and her party are resolute in their stance.

“I have no business in Westminster, we have no business in your parliament,” she said. “Westminster, correctly, advances and protects what it regards to be British interests.

“We have no business interfering in that, I am Irish, we have two parliaments and we advance Irish interests.

“I look at the experience of our Scottish colleagues and I see them at Westminster, I think there’s 30-odd, and I think they would readily attest that Westminster has no interest in Scotland either, Westminster has never served Irish interests, it’s not constituted to do that, Irish interests are defended in Dublin and Belfast.”

McDonald added that the Good Friday Agreement would have to be revisited in the event of a hard Brexit on March 29, and an Irish unity referendum should be held.

“Put simply, if the border in Ireland cannot be mitigated, cannot be managed in the short term, well then you put the question democratically in the hands of the people and allow them to remove the border,” she said.

“Bear in mind the people of Northern Ireland did not consent to Brexit. The backstop is the bottom line.

“On the issue of the border poll, there’s no point us burying our heads in the sand and wish away a hard Brexit.

“We prepare for the worst scenario and protect our national interest.”

Ms McDonald told Marr that anyone gambling with peace on the island of Ireland is acting recklessly.

“One of the biggest symbols of success of the peace process is that people can travel unimpeded over the border.”

On Saturday, Ms McDonald said that the unionist community needs to be a part of planning for a united Ireland.

At an event in Dublin to discuss the campaign for Irish unity she said: “Obviously, our unionist brothers and sisters need to be part of planning a new Ireland, their first option, of course, is to maintain the Union with Britain and we respect that, but as one ex-leader of the DUP put it, they need to start now planning for all eventualities and unionism needs a Plan B.”