Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson.
SINN Féin MEP Martina Anderson has said there is an onus on the British government to recognise the vote in the devolved administrations and has reiterated calls for a border poll on Irish unity.
She was speaking after the result was officially announced with the Brexit backers winning the ‘Leave’ campaign.
Ms Anderson said: “This referendum had nothing to do with the best interests of our people, our island or our economy.
“This was all about a narrow-minded Tory party and their internal ruptures.
“Therefore I am very proud of the 56% of the electorate who saw through this and voted in favour of remaining as a member of the EU.
“Unfortunately however, votes in England and Wales now mean the 440,707 people in the North who voted to Remain in the EU are being dragged unwillingly out of the EU.
“English votes have overturned the democratic will of the north.
“There is an onus on the British government to recognise the vote in the devolved administrations and there is an onus on them to provide answers for the several unanswered questions that the people of the north have.
“Sinn Féin will now be pushing for a border poll, a measure agreed upon in the Good Friday Agreement 18 years ago, to provide Irish citizens with the right to vote for an end to partition and to retain a role in the EU.”
The British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers is the only person who can call a border poll.
But to date has either refused to discuss or entertain a date for a border poll
