Brexiteer Labour MP Kate Hoey has said that the Republic of Ireland and the European Union have overblown the Irish backstop issue and “connived” to keep the UK close to the bloc to take its money.
Defending comments she made where she said that the EU is attempting to succeed where the IRA failed in dividing Northern Ireland from Great Britain, the Ulster-born Unionist told Sophie Ridge on Sky News on Sunday, that “as Northern Ireland is left, supposedly, once this deal will go through… in the Customs Union, there is no one in Northern Ireland elected to speak for the people of Northern Ireland.
“So the country that would be speaking for Northern Ireland is the Irish Republic.”
“And ultimately, as divergence happens and Great Britain decides to go on different rules and changes things, Northern Ireland would be left behind.
And this is not acceptable because this is another way of actually driving Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom,” Ms Hoey added, echoing concerns expressed by Members of Parliament from the Unionist Northern Ireland DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) that the Withdrawal Agreement presents a threat to the Union.