Emailed in by MBK, from The Daily Express:
The Chancellor, who kicks off a two-day Ulster visit today, will say unemployment in the region will skyrocket if British voters opt to ditch the 28-member bloc later this month. And the Remain campaigner will insist prosperity in the Republic of Ireland – the only EU state that shares a land border with Britain – would also be hit.
Osborne is the latest high-profile Europhile to claim that Northern Ireland faces a grim future outside of the EU. Labour grandee Lord Mandelson was last month slammed as "ridiculous" for claiming that Brexit would bring an end to peace in Northern Ireland.
Osborne will argue that the economic shock caused by a vote to Leave will wipe £1.3 billion off the value of the Northern Irish economy by 2018 – despite claiming that the region is a "great success story"...
He is also set to warn of the impact on trade with the Republic, warning that border and custom checks will have to be introduced. The Chancellor will also question whether the current free movement of people across Ireland under the Common Travel Area arrangement between the UK and Ireland could be maintained.
Of course those 'open borders will be maintained', it is in the interests of people in both parts of Ireland for them to remain open. The only reason to change that would be sheer spite. End of discussion.
Elevate their cause?
4 hours ago
4 comments:
Open borders does put paid to the idea that, 'we take back control of our borders' though... unless it's have cake and eat it time.
AFAICR, before we joined the EEC, you didn't even need a passport to go from the UK to Ireland. How open border is that?
B, you still don't. You only need a passport because Michael O'Leary wants to see it. And because the Irish decided to build Dublin airport in such a way that UK-originating flights get mixed up with arrivals from the rest of the world (but you still don't need a passport if you're white and have the right accent)
C, I know that, because I've gone to Ireland on the boat many times. The point that I was trying to make was that the "open borders" arrangement with Eire pre-dated the UK joining the EU/EEC and is not a product of the EU.
Post a Comment