LABOUR MP Kate Hoey has launched a stinging attack on the Irish government and European Union, claiming they have “connived together” to try and keep the UK as close to Europe as possible.
The Pro-Brexit politician made the controversial comments during an appearance alongside Sophy Ridge on Sky News.
Hoey, who was born in Mallusk, County Antrim, said:
"Ultimately, as divergence happens and Great Britain decides to go on different rules and changes things, Northern Ireland will be left behind. And this is not acceptable because this is another way of actually driving Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom.
"I do, genuinely, find it very dangerous. The whole idea that somehow a hard border is needed when time after time customs experts from both sides have said it is not with goodwill.
"The goodwill hasn’t been there because the Irish Government and the European Union have connived together to see this as a way of keeping the United Kingdom in as close as possible a relationship with the EU and keep taking our money."
Hoey’s hardline stance on Brexit is well documented.
A serving MP in Britain since 1989, Hoey courted controversy during a recent speech at the Leave Means Leave rally in London.
A keynote speaker at the event, Hoey took to the stage to say:
"As someone who grew up in Northern Ireland and is very proud to be pro-Union, I feel very strongly about this. We didn't spend 30 years in Northern Ireland stopping IRA terrorists killing soldiers, police, and civilians, in order to get a United Ireland to allow a few jumped-up EU bureaucrats and a complicit prime minister to try and do the same thing by the back door."
Disgusting comment. Revealing wilful ignorance of the Good Friday Agreement, how it was delivered, how it is designed to work, and what it has achieved https://t.co/cGDsEASlDa
— ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) December 15, 2018
The comments were condemned by Alastair Campbell for revealing a "wilful ignorance of the Good Friday Agreement, how it was delivered, how it is designed to work, and what it has achieved."
Hoey previously described the Good Friday Agreement as "unsustainable” back in February.
