We retain absolute commitment to Northern Ireland’s place in internal UK market, says prime minister

“Prime Minister just to go back to the Lord Trimble supporting the legal action. One of his historical advisors, Lord Bew, a very respected figure in the House of Lords, he said one of the most remarkable things was the British government had not challenged this Irish narrative on the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in recent years and I’m wondering what you think about that.

“He is concerned, like Lord Trimble, that Britain would be signing away the right, the possibility of there one day there being regulatory and customs divergence on the island of Ireland. Are you going to keep open that possibility for Britain?”

Mrs May replied: “What I’ve made clear and you’ve heard me repeat in my speech, is the commitment that we made in the December joint report, December 2017 joint report, to ensure Ireland’s place in the — the integral place that NI has within the internal market of the United Kingdom. We have already set forth, set out within Westminster, ways in which we believe as a UK government we would deliver on that.

“I recognise the concerns that have been expressed about regulatory differences but as I say, we were absolutely clear in that December joint report, and we retain our absolute commitment to that, to ensure Northern Ireland’s integral place in the UK’s internal market.”

Ken Reid of UTV asked:

“Fifty six per cent of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain, it has wide support in the business community here as well. How are you going to persuade particularly nationalist politicians, the nationalist parties, to accept a deal that doesn’t contain a backstop?”

Mrs May replied: “Well I’m not proposing to persuade people to accept a deal that doesn’t contain that insurance policy for the future. What Parliament has said is that they believe there should be changes made to the backstop.”