DUP MP says Nigel Farage's ECHR plans won't create Irish Sea 'people border' - and denies Unionists repeating Brexit mistakes
A DUP MP has rejected the idea that a Reform government could treat the island of Ireland as a single entity for immigration, and place a ‘people border’ down the Irish Sea.
Sammy Wilson also denied the suggestion that unionists are at risk of repeating the mistakes of Brexit, by not foreseeing the likelihood that Northern Ireland will not be treated the same as Great Britain, because of the Belfast Agreement.
He was responding to Nigel Farage’s assertion that NI would not leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) with GB. The Reform leader wants to ditch the treaty to end illegal migration and asylum claims – but says that the province will not be at the “forefront” of his plans, and a renegotiation of the 1998 agreement would be required.
Mr Wilson – a long term friend of Mr Farage – says that the issues thrown up by his plans to leave the ECHR are not the same as those created by the NI Protocol.
When the UK left the European Union, successive Tory governments adopted a policy of leaving Northern Ireland under the EU’s control for the trade in goods – creating a trade border down the Irish Sea.
Despite previous warnings from the DUP MP over the possibility of ID checks on people travelling from Northern Ireland to Great Britain – prompted by ‘back door’ immigration concerns – he says that wouldn’t happen under Reform’s plans.
The East Antrim MP says the UK Government would require the co-operation of Ireland – and it would not make sense to have an immigration border down the Irish Sea, as it would risk the Common Travel Area.
He said that Mr Farage would have to work towards an immigration policy which covers all of the British Isles. “I don’t think he would find that too difficult, because the Irish are getting so concerned about immigration into the Republic, that they’re probably contemplating measures to curtail immigration anyway”, he said.
Asked if unionists are at risk of repeating some of the mistakes of Brexit, Mr Wilson said that was to “misunderstand the issue” – and that the movement of people was entirely separate from the Protocol deal because a Reform government couldn’t ignore immigration from Ireland.