'Pure scaremongering!' Critics using Tory-DUP deal as 'stick to beat the government with'
BREXIT will not upset the Good Friday agreement one of the architects of the peace process has said.
Lord Trimble: Brexit and Good Friday Agreement are NOT linked
Lord Trimble said there was “no connection” between the UK’s decision to leave the European Union and power sharing in Northern Ireland.
Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, the Conservative peer added calls that an alliance between the Democratic Unionist Party and Conservative party could disrupt the peace process were “scaremongering”.
Irish premier Enda Kenny has said the Tory alliance with the DUP puts the Good Friday agreement in the country at risk.
Asked if this was the case, Lord Trimble dismissed the claims as “silly”.
There’s no connection between the agreement and the European Union and Brexit and all the rest of it
He said: “There’s a fair amount of scaremongering going on. I’m sorry to use that term with regard to Enda, for whom I have some regard.
“But this is just being silly and it’s also silly to suggest is some way it makes the talks more difficult.
“There’s no connection between the agreement and the European Union and Brexit and all the rest of it.
“People are just trying to grab this as a stick to the beat the government with and I think it’s really quite silly.”
Earlier on the programme, Richard Bullick, ex special adviser to DUP leader Arlene Foster, said the party would not back down on calling for the UK to leave the single market and customs union.
Mr Bullick said an “arrangement” would be needed between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to ensure there was not a hard border.
Presenter Mishal Husain asked if Mrs Foster would backtrack on wanting the UK to leave the customs union.
She said: “On the question of Brexit, the DUP obviously in favour of leaving the EU but very concerned about what would happen on the border.
“Do those concerns go away if the UK stays in the customs union, even if it leaves the single market and therefore is that something which you think she’ll be pushing for?
But the former adviser said the party would not change its mind on wanting to leave the customs union.