RESPECT MP George Galloway has said that he would support Northern Ireland’s exit from the UK as he believes in “united countries”.
The Scots-born MP for Bradford West was speaking at the Assembly Rooms ahead of an appearance in Edinburgh for the latest date in his Just Saw Naw speaking tour.
Saying he would welcome a united Ireland, Galloway said: “I don't believe in breaking countries up as I think we have too many countries in the world, not too few.
"The Irish people were denied their right to unity and independence. The Scottish people never have been, and could have voted for independence at any time that they liked in the whole era of universal suffrage of nearly 100 years.”
Mr Galloway, who was expelled from Tony Blair’s Labour Party in 2003, was met in the Scottish capital by two rival protests.
These included representatives of the left-wing Radical Independence group, opposing the Union, and the right-wing Scottish Defence League, opposing Mr Galloway’s ties with religious minorities.
Local police kept the demonstrators apart while he spoke at the Assembly Rooms.
Mr Galloway declared his support for a united Ireland despite recently campaigning to convince Scots to vote against an independent Scotland in the referendum.
"People say that they want Scotland to have self-determination but they have self-determination, and always have, and will exercise that self-determination again in September.
"If it chooses to become independent then it will become independent, but I think it would rue the day."
He added that he would prefer "a real Labour prime minister of the whole of Britain" but said he would "fancy being prime minister of Scotland" if it votes for independence on September 18.
