'Dignified silence may be better': DUP MP Ian Paisley hits back at Leo Varadkar after taoiseach voices fears for direction of the UK

Leo Varadkar voiced his “love” for the UK today just ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but also said “it does bother me to see the United Kingdom disengaging from the world”.

Specifically, Mr Varadkar said “whether it’s reducing its budget for international aid, whether it’s leaving the European Union, and now even talking about withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights, that’s not the Britain I know”.

After their meeting, a Number 10 Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister and Taoiseach shared their concerns about the continued absence of an executive in Northern Ireland and the democratic deficit this was causing."

Speaking to the News Letter this evening, Ian Paisley said of the claim that the UK is “disengaging” from the world: “Unlike the Republic of Ireland, the UK puts billions of pounds into foreign aid – it's nearly 3% of its total GDP, of which I'd venture to say is considerably more than the Irish government has at its disposal.

"|It puts in the last, what, 800 days we've given £10bn to the Ukraine in humanitarian and support-for-the-war aid, meanwhile the Republic of Ireland is of course a neutral country, and the next government of the Irish republic will probably be an anti-NATO country.

"He'd be far better off unveiling the human rights abuse in his own country – addressing the fallout of legacy in his own country and how the Republic of Ireland contributed to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

"If he loves the UK, I look forward to him wanting to make sure the UK remains as it is, a United Kingdom, and he'd not want to break that up…

"I'm sure the PM took Mr Varadkar's interventions with a good pinch of salt, or I hope he did, and let him know all of the UK is nothing to do with the Republic of Ireland's jurisdiction.

"The Republic of Ireland, if it wants to help, sometimes a dignified silence would be much better than interventions that only cause people concern.”

More from this reporter:

• Tory veterans minister Johnny Mercer defends blanket Troubles amnesty saying party has 'ended the scourge' of criminal charges for ex-soldiers

• 'I wrote to the Prime Minister to correct her': Who is the likely new PSNI chief Jon Boutcher (and what are people saying about him)?

• Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin goes off-script to describe himself as republican not nationalist