Campaigners have criticised suggestions that changes could be made to the Good Friday Agreement without the consent of nationalists in Northern Ireland so that the UK could leave the European Convention of Human Rights.
The Good Friday Agreement is the landmark settlement which ended decades of conflict in Britain and Ireland by establishing powersharing institutions in Northern Ireland between unionists and nationalists.
The comments were made at an event in Parliament today where deputy leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, was asked whether he would be willing to impose changes to the Good Friday Agreement over the objections of nationalists.
Richard Tice MP said: “That’s the joy of democracy. And frankly, it would be boring if we all agreed with each other. You have discussions, you have debates, and you get to a conclusion but, ultimately, there has to be a belief in our sovereign Parliament.”
At the same event, Suella Braverman MP called for a border poll on Irish Reunification to be held if one was required to before the UK could leave the ECHR.
Unionists in Northern Ireland have long argued against holding a border poll while Sinn Féin have repeatedly called for one to be held.
Cal Roscow, director of campaigns at Best for Britain, said,
“It’s quite tiresome to continuously hear politicians wax lyrical about the Good Friday Agreement when it increasingly sounds as if they have never read it.
“All changes to Northern Ireland’s powersharing settlement have been carried out with the agreement of both nationalists and unionists so what Tice is really proposing here in practice would be the end of the hard won ‘cross community’ settlement.”
Mr Roscow added:
“Suella Braverman will now have to reconcile herself with the fact that her determination to strip rights from UK citizens has unexpectedly put her on the same side as Gerry Adams.”