Sir John Major and Tony Blair speaking at Magee College urging people back the ‘Remain’ campaign
SIR JOHN Major and Tony Blair, two former British Prime Ministers, are in Derry today to back the ‘Vote Remain’ campaign to keep Britain in the EU.
Once political opponents, Conversative’s Sir John and Labour’s Tony Blair have hit the campaign trail urging people to vote stay in the EU in the June 23 referendum.
The former PMs spoke today at an event at Magee College at which they claimed a “Leave” vote could put Northern Ireland’s future at risk by threatening its hard-won stability.
Sir John said there was a “serious risk” of another independence referendum and, if Scotland found itself out of the EU, he could “envisage a different result” to the one in 2014.
He argued that a vote to leave the EU would also risk “destabilising the complicated and multi-layered constitutional settlement that underpins the present stability in Northern Ireland” – a situation that in his words would be a “historic mistake”.
He said: “It would throw all the pieces of the constitutional jigsaw up into the air again, and no-one could be certain where they would land.”
Ireland would be “on the other side of the table” to Britain in its post Brexit negotiations, he added.
Mr Blair said Northern Ireland’s prosperity and its political arrangements could be negatively affected by a vote to leave.
Leave campaigners say the free travel area between Ireland and the UK would be retained – but Mr Blair said this would be “difficult if not impossible” because checks would either be needed across the border between the two countries.
Otherwise, he said: “It would make a nonsense of their entire argument for leaving which is all to do with the free movement of people in the European Union.”
“We understand that, although today Northern Ireland is more stable and more prosperous than ever, that stability is poised on carefully constructed foundations,” he said. “And so we are naturally concerned at the prospect of anything that could put those foundations at risk.”
But Secretary of State Theresa Villiers, who backs the Leave campaign, said Northern Ireland would thrive outside the EU and the former leaders’ warnings rang hollow.
“Support for the peace process in Northern Ireland is rock solid,” she said.
“The vast majority of people in Northern Ireland believe their future should only ever be determined by democracy and consent and not by violence. I very much hope figures who played such an important role in the peace process would not suggest that a Brexit vote would weaken that resolve in any way.
“Whatever the result of the referendum, Northern Ireland is not going back to the troubles of its past and to suggest otherwise would be highly irresponsible.”
Vote Leave has said Irish citizens would still be able to travel freely to and from the UK in the event of it leaving the EU, even though there would be controls on all other EU citizens coming into the UK once the UK was no longer bound by EU-wide freedom of movement rules.
Remain campaigners have questioned the future of the current Common Travel Area in place between the UK and Irish Republic in the event of Brexit, suggesting that unless it was fully policed it could become a back-door route for “illegal immigration” from elsewhere in the EU.
But Ms Villiers rejected this, saying the agreement had been in place since 1923, was enshrined in UK law and would stay in place.
“The idea that thousands of non-Irish EU citizens would suddenly start crossing the border is far-fetched,” she said.
“If we vote Leave and change the rules on free movement for non-Irish EU citizens, then if they come to the UK across our land border without legal clearance to do so, they would not be able to work, or claim benefits, or rent a home, or open a bank account and could ultimately be deported.
“There are plenty of mechanisms we can use to control immigration and deal with risks around illegal migration which do not involve physical checks at our land border.”
Northern Ireland’s political parties are split over the issue of EU membership, with the DUP – including first minister Arlene Foster – backing the Leave campaign while Sinn Fein and others back Remain.
Following their speeches, Mr Major and Mr Blair both held a question and answer session with local young people at Magee College.
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