Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE DUP’S DEPUTY leader Nigel Dodds has said that he would prefer staying in the European Union than risking Northern Ireland’s position in the United Kingdom.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight after Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement was defeated for a third time this afternoon, Dodds said that when asked about his preferences:
I would stay in the European Union and remain, rather than risk Northern Ireland’s position. That’s how strongly I feel about the union.
My concern about the Withdrawal Agreement is that it creates potentially under the backstop trade barriers. But as we leave, the backstop and future negotiations could leave Northern Ireland behind, causing economic and political ruptures between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
He went on to say that he wanted Brexit to be delivered and the result of the referendum respected, but added that it “can’t be at the risk of separating Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK”.
The DUP’s 10 MPs voted against Theresa May’s deal this afternoon. It lost by a majority of 58 votes.
After the vote and before MPs left the chamber, Nigel Dodds urged Theresa May to look at the Irish backstop again. “She knows that that remains a problem.”
“She knows that the EU and Leo Varadkar has said that there will be no hard border… Use the time constructively to get that matter sorted out,” he said.
The EU, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Theresa May have all repeatedly said that the Withdrawal Agreement is not up for renegotiation.
A creature from the paleolithic era.
@Bingobango: ha ha ha ha ha a neanderthal
@Bingobango: the political wing of the Old Testament.
@THE DUKE: wait neanderthal man survived for 300,000 years
@Bingobango: Facts or emotional,?
@Bingobango: The DUP don’t believe in the Paleolithic.
@THE DUKE: From Tartarus you mean?
@Bingobango: The idiot party should have listened to their own supporters and voted to stay in the EU. Hugh own goal on their part Nigel.
@THE DUKE: Homo Sapiens ate them in the end, Nigel would not make an appetizing meal, all that bitterness
Is auld Doddy scared an United Ireland is ever closer now outside the EU
@Stevey Walker: If he’d thought to fix it so NI became a “special interest zone” locked into a semi-permanent backstop he could have warded off a border poll for a generation. The only territory to have Free Trade with the UK and the EU? Now wouldn’t it be ironic (I really do think) if there was a story in the Bible about cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.
@John Considine: Amen
@Stevey Walker: also, his constituents have made it clear the effect of Brexit will have.
@DJ François: You don’t need to tell me. I’m in a DUP constituency and the majority of NI voted to remain. In their view they don’t care about the people, it’s all about “the union”.
@John Considine: I can’t see the EU allowing that, why would every ship coming into and leaving the UK not just go through Belfast then?
@Stevey Walker: They people of NI voted for the union to remain in the EU not NI . There was no ref on NI staying in the EU .
@John Smith: Pedantic much! Away and troll somewhere else!
@John Smith: NI as a region voted Remain. Just like Scotland as region voted Remain. England and Wales both as regions voted Leave. Collectively as a Union they voted Leave.
A loon born in Ireland who considers himself British to such an extent that he has spent his whole delusional life believing it. To the average English person, he is just another paddy. Or 1 who is costing them 14 billion sterling a year to feed his delusions.
@THE DUKE: So true and Arlene goes to Washington for a jolly on St Patrick’s Day .
@THE DUKE: he was born in Northern Ireland which is part of Britain which makes him British. What’s hard to understand?
@Ransoy Dowling: and Irish…
@Roy Dowling: born in Ireland you ignorant moron
@paddy fox: the part that is British still…
@Roy Dowling: NI is not part of Britain, it is part of the UK.
@Roy Dowling: Northern Ireland is part of the U.K, that means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales. So, and please try and keep up here, this means that a person born in the north of Ireland cannot is not British. However much some of them would like to be.
@Roy Dowling: Britain is an island not a country. Ireland is also an island. It doesn’t matter how much Dodds wants to be British, he factually isn’t.
@Roy Dowling: once more : Northern Ireland is not in Britain. It’s in the U.K. Here England =England …..
Britain = England ,Scotland,wales
And well work it out
@michael: Britain is a union of Irish , English , Scottish and Welsh that’s why it’s call a union . The people of NI are Irish in the union of Britain . This is why military units in NI have the title Irish in them . Royal Irish fusiliers, Royal Irish Rangers and so on . They wear a Irish headdress call a caubeen . A harp as a cap badge and a shamrock on their uniform. Their made up of mainly unionists .
@Roy Dowling: Island of Ireland to all mainland brits is paddy. Simple. If I was born in Japan. How could I be Korean
@Roy Dowling: it’s not hard to understand. What you don’t seem to understand us how Northern Ireland is viewed by most people 99% in the mainland UK. It’s seen as almost nothing, non existent, if it’s thought of at all. It’s only marginally better than how they view Ireland itself.
@paddy fox: Northern Ireland you moron , which is British territory.
@John Smith: Read the replies above. Why is it called the UK of GB and NI if NI is part of GB? Unfortunately for you, it is called Britain by the Brits because they don’t give a stuff about any part of Ireland, north or south.
@THE DUKE: easy if your parents are Korean then your Korean no Matter where you was born g******e
@Roy Dowling: I was born in the place you call NI and I’m Irish. What’s your point?
@John Smith:
It’s a union if northern Irish,Welsh, Scottish and English.
They should be rename the regiments Northern Irish.
The harp is an ancient symbol if Ireland and predates any English r planter involvement in Ireland.
This utter refusal of the British to accept reality about Ireland is beyond tedious.
Ireland left 100 years ago. Mentally, it’s time the British let go. It’s unhealthy.
If UK crashes out the EU will insist on the backstop before any negotiations take place, the fact that UK said that there would be no checks at the border with Ireland in the event of no deal means that Northern Ireland is different to UK and there will be custom checks at Larne and Belfast and the DUP will not be able to do anything about it.
@John Kerr: the hilarious thing is, as part of Britain’s no deal preps there will be effectively a tarring border between NI and Britain. So the very thing the DUP are resisting as an outlying possibility, becomes a certainty if they crash out.
@Adam Kelly: tariff
@Adam Kelly: Brexit will mean they “take back control of their borders” :)
Can we export all the unionist back to their beloved England, postpone the children’s hospital for a few years and build a bridge to France instead. Think about it, it’s not that mad.
@Manbackonboard: problem is most of them came from Scotland and half of them don’t want them back either.
@Joey Navinski: Fe(K. Ok. I’ll come back with another plan or I might put this to ye again.
@Manbackonboard: ya get two more goes, ok?
@Manbackonboard: as mad as a box of cut snakes..
If they won’t have a second referendum? Then the only way forward is to call an election and let the people vote in MP’s who best represent their views on Brexit, hopefully the numbers will be significant enough either way to put an end to the whole mess …
@Ron Noco: Not in NI. If the people of NI were told that the end of the world was next Friday and anyone apart from SF and DUP could save them. They’d still vote SF and DUP, then blame each other for the Apocalypse.
@Stevey Walker: sadly that is true, hopefully the actual British vote to stay or go…
Dodds has got wealthy by his wife’s fat EU salary
And she is demanding an EU after BRexit
What a double standard
@trebloc01: What a plonker wrap the fleg around and sent him on his way idiot.
@trebloc01: He’d be the milder of the two.
The penny is finally dropping but they have to save face at the same time…
Nigel says the Union is more important than Democracy !!
How the politically correct consider the DUP as Irish is a dereliction of honesty – they are Scottish planters
@Martin Brennan: Be closer to Appalachian hillbillies than Scottish at this stage.
@John Smith: Irish as soon as the wheels leave the runway
pension
Its all about Cash For Sash. Give then another couple of billion and I bet they would vote for May’s deal.
Feck sake. What a worm.
He is the personification of the UK Parliament pronouncing on every single option presented to them regarding Brexit!!
You actually deleted my comment which was a father Ted quote.. Christ.
@Yorkie1892: those protestants up to no good as usual
@Roisin O’ Reilly: careful now
Nigel, beggers don’t be gettin to be choosing
Nigel would rather mate with a crocodile than endanger his precious union.
Looking both ways at the same time
@Kevin Walsh: Janus, while missing what’s happening in the present?
@John kane:They are Irish . That’s why it’s call a union of four nationalities .
Penny dropped. Mr Dodds brain is so very tired. Can I have a blanky and lie down please
Captain of boycott
I think Nigel is fu#%
Dodds is deliberately misquoting Varadkar, leave out thesteak explanation behind the statement that there wouldn’t be a hard border. If the UK drop out without a deal EU have to impose a border somewhere, In my interpretation That means a border in Irish sea not on land btwn NI and the Republic, by his own admission he is more interested in UK union than progress in NI. WhoI would want to share a country with his likes….not me
Desperate times for the DUP
“We hate taigs more than we hate the EU”, I don’t care what their reasoning is , if it leads to a cancellation of Brexit I welcome ill happily be hated by the DUP.
There’s some lovely properties for Nigel and his friends in Jacob Rees Mogs constitiency, where he can wallow in his Britishness.
This is great news. It would mean free trade into our biggest trading partner and no hard border. Taught everyone would welcome this development.
Politically, the DUP have played it brilliantly. Align ourselves with the Tory right, accentuate our Unionist credentials, assail the Irish approach-all of which plays to their political base as the true defenders of the Union. At the same time, keep saying no but commit to nothing and eventually, like Dodds did yesterday, display an openness to anything that won’t harm Northern Ireland. They were never true Brexiteers but lived symbiotically with the ERG et al until their mutual benefit dissipated.
@Joe O Boyle: When did Ireland vote for partition? A hard Brexit means the end of the UK. Not an outcome they want.
Didn’t Northern Ireland voters vote to stay in the EU?
have your say