Nigel Farage's immigration plans would 'create an Irish Sea border for people' MLA warns

​The UUP MLA has also rejected a suggestion by Sammy Wilson MP that immigration could be dealt with on a UK-Ireland basis – saying that EU free movement into the Republic would make Northern Ireland a migration “bottleneck” for those trying to enter Great Britain.

The DUP has not backed ECHR withdrawal – with some senior party figures concerned about the potential implications for Northern Ireland given Nigel Farage’s stated view that he would treat the province differently if he was Prime Minister.

Doug Beattie’s comments come in response to a claim from Mr Wilson that a Reform government wouldn’t treat the island of Ireland as a single entity for immigration, and place a ‘people border’ down the Irish Sea.

The DUP MP 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.

The latest row comes as Nigel Farage confirmed a Reform UK government would not treat Northern Ireland in the same way as the rest of the UK under his plans to quit the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights).

The former Brexit Party leader says leaving the human rights treaty is necessary to halt small boat crossings in the English channel by those seeking asylum in the UK. On Wednesday, he said Northern Ireland will “not be at the forefront” of actions by a Reform UK government to deal with immigration.

Speaking to the News Letter, Mr Beattie said that under the proposals Northern Ireland could become a “bottleneck for immigration”.

“That bottleneck will not be at the at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland – it’s too wide. That bottleneck will be at the ports. In other words, there will be immigration control from Northern Ireland going into GB ports and airports.

“It’s the most ridiculous thing. Northern Ireland will not lose the ECHR legislation – Ireland won’t allow it and the UK won’t be able to shift it. It doesn’t matter if they [a Reform UK government] have a British bill of rights, it’s just a nonsense”, the Upper Bann MLA said.

The former UUP leader said that Great Britain would leave the convention first, with Northern Ireland left behind “because it becomes too difficult”. He said that the proposals would mean the UK government would have to put in place checks to control immigration via the Republic of Ireland.

“Even if they [Reform] managed to move everything at the same time, they still wouldn’t be able to control the borders. People would still be able to come in via the Republic of Ireland, straight from Europe, cross the border and get into GB that way.

“So they would have to put up immigration control points in GB to stop that. That will, in effect, be an Irish Sea border for people”, he said.

Doug Beattie also said immigration is a real issue in Northern Ireland. “We do have an issue here, but we have to look at it logically and come up with a solution to deal with it”, he said.

He argues that sites such as the former Ballykinler Army Base in County Down could be used to house migrants, rather than the use of houses of multiple occupancy.

Northern Ireland already is already subject to different immigration rules than the rest of the United Kingdom due to clauses inserted into the last government’s Windsor Framework trade deal with the Brussels, guaranteeing certain EU rights here.

In May 2024 the High Court in Belfast effectively stopped the UK government’s flagship Rwanda immigration scheme from operating in Northern Ireland.

The court found that the law unlawfully diminished the rights of asylum seekers, trafficking victims and unaccompanied children – and that parts of it breach the framework and should therefore be disapplied in Northern Ireland.

This happened despite a claim in the ‘Safeguarding the Union’ deal struck with the DUP that the Windsor Framework applies only to trading goods.