VICTIMS CAMPAIGNER IS ENCOURAGED BY RULING
Posted By: January 25, 2017
McCord encouraged by victory: “the ruling that Parliament must vote on whether the government can start the Brexit process.
Deborah McAleese. Belfast, Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Victims campaigner Raymond McCord arrives at the Supreme Court in London, for the third day of the Government’s appeal against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs’ approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday, December 7, 2016. See PA story COURTS Brexit.
Victims campaigner Raymond McCord arrives at the Supreme Court in London, for the third day of the Government’s appeal against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs’ approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday, December 7, 2016. See PA story COURTS Brexit.
Photo credit should read Victoria Jones/PA Wire.
A VICTIMS campaigner who challenged Brexit in the Supreme Court has called on the DUP to support the wishes of the majority in Northern Ireland to remain in the EU.
Raymond McCord, pictured, said he was encouraged by the ruling that Parliament must vote on whether the government can start the Brexit process.
But he said he was concerned that DUP MPs would “put party first and people second.”
“Because 56 percent voted in Northern Ireland in favor of remaining within the EU, the DUP should vote for what the majority want.
“I am saying to the DUP now, are you going to go in there and vote for the wishes of the people or will you vote party first and people second?”
DUP parliamentary leader Nigel Dodds said: “The DUP campaigned for Brexit and we believe we are stronger outside the shackles of the European Union. We voted as a whole to leave the EU and that vote must be continually respected.”
Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams warned that Brexit “will undermine the institutional, constitutional and legal integrity of the Good Friday Agreement.”
He said: “It puts the British government on a collision course with the EU in which our stability and economic progress are regarded as collateral damage.
“The Taoiseach and the Irish government must uphold the Remain vote in the North. And to argue for the North to be accorded a specially designated status within the EU.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the judgment “significantly undermines the value placed on the democratic mandate of our assembly,” he said.
The Human Rights Consortium campaign organization said it was deeply concerned about the risk of entering into a process to withdraw from the EU without ensuring that human rights protections, emanating from EU membership, are first safeguarded.
Director Kevin Hanratty said: “Those safeguards are important elements in the Northern Ireland peace process and need to be protected.
“Northern Ireland now finds itself in a particularly perilous situation with regard to the protection of human rights.”
A VICTIMS campaigner who challenged Brexit in the Supreme Court has called on the DUP to support the wishes of the majority in Northern Ireland to remain in the EU.
Raymond McCord, pictured, said he was encouraged by the ruling that Parliament must vote on whether the government can start the Brexit process.
But he said he was concerned that DUP MPs would “put party first and people second.”
“Because 56 percent voted in Northern Ireland in favor of remaining within the EU, the DUP should vote for what the majority want.
“I am saying to the DUP now, are you going to go in there and vote for the wishes of the people or will you vote party first and people second?”
DUP parliamentary leader Nigel Dodds said: “The DUP campaigned for Brexit and we believe we are stronger outside the shackles of the European Union. We voted as a whole to leave the EU and that vote must be continually respected.”
Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams warned that Brexit “will undermine the institutional, constitutional and legal integrity of the Good Friday Agreement.”
He said: “It puts the British government on a collision course with the EU in which our stability and economic progress are regarded as collateral damage.
“The Taoiseach and the Irish government must uphold the Remain vote in the North. And to argue for the North to be accorded a specially designated status within the EU.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the judgment “significantly undermines the value placed on the democratic mandate of our assembly,” he said.
The Human Rights Consortium campaign organization said it was deeply concerned about the risk of entering into a process to withdraw from the EU without ensuring that human rights protections, emanating from EU membership, are first safeguarded.
Director Kevin Hanratty said: “Those safeguards are important elements in the Northern Ireland peace process and need to be protected.
“Northern Ireland now finds itself in a particularly perilous situation with regard to the protection of human rights.”
