European Movement in NI will act to challenge Hard Brexit

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The European Movement NI Chair has said the organisation has already prepared to challenge Brexit at every stage, as the UK Government triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, notifying the EU of its intention to leave.

EMNI believes a ‘Hard Brexit’ is in contravention to the expressed wishes of the people of Northern Ireland.
Ian Parsley stated: “In the current political climate there is nothing inevitable about Brexit, and certainly not about the Hard Brexit without a trade deal or agreement on bilateral relations that the UK Government has unacceptably embarked upon without being remotely prepared for the challenges ahead”.
Mr Parsley was speaking on the day the letter from Mrs May is sent to European Council Donald Tusk, formally letting the EU know that the UK wishes to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
 The Chair of EMNI said that the discussion has ‘already moved well away from supposed benefits of Brexit and are now into damage limitation mode’.
Mr Parsley believes that soaring inflation resulting from the process of Hard Brexit will add ‘further strain on households across the UK’.


 “The European Movement is not about to let all that happen. With our allies across the UK we will challenge Brexit at every stage, and continue to demand the people are consulted with and given a voice on the basis of reality, not fiction.


 “In the meantime we have already assembled papers from businesses, educational institutions and voluntary bodies, notably in the Health Sector, to inform proposals which we will feed into an Independent Council, led by Alasdair McDonnell MP and Steve Aiken MLA, to represent Northern Ireland’s civic voice.


 “These proposals will provide ideas and challenges both to the UK Government and European Council during the negotiation process, and to the NI Executive as it uses devolved powers to maintain special arrangements to make sure Northern Ireland is a gateway for business and leisure pursuits both in the UK and across Europe.

EMNI sister organisations on these islands have also responded to the triggering of Article 50.
Chairperson of EM Ireland, Maurice Pratt, said: “As Ireland’s longest established organisation dedicated to working on European issues, this is a sad day.  Ireland and the UK joined the European Economic Community at the same time, nearly 45 years ago now, and it is disheartening that it has chosen a future outside of the EU.”

Stephen Dorrell, Chair, European Movement UK:

“I am opposed to Brexit because we believe it represents an attempt to insulate Britain from the modern world. The case has been built on a series of undeliverable promises which threaten not merely our living standards but the system of values, friendships and alliances which Britain has built in the post-colonial era.

It is an elaborate gothic fantasy, worthy of Ludwig of Bavaria. But it is built on quicksand and there is an urgent public interest in ensuring that it is exposed.

In a healthy democracy those who take this view not only have the right to make our case; we have an inescapable obligation to do so.”

 

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