May, making her first visit to Belfast since she became prime minister earlier this month, will meet the province’s leader, Arlene Foster, who campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union, and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander who campaigned to remain.
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On Friday, July 22, Foster and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said Brexit must not mean the establishment of a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
In her first visit to Northern Ireland since she was named prime minister of Britain, Theresa May traveled to Belfast Monday to assuage these fears. “No one can say for certain what our trade arrangements with the European Union would be or how border arrangements with the Republic of Ireland would change, if at all”, said Committee Chair Laurence Robertson.
Prime Minister May earlier this week said that “practical solutions” would be worked out for the whole of Britain, including the North, before the move to leave the union is triggered.
Campaigning for a Remain vote on a visit to Northern Ireland before June’s historic vote, Mrs May said it would be inconceivable, in the event of a decision to Leave, that there would not be changes to the current arrangements that allow free movement of goods, trade and services across the border.
Following meetings with leaders of Wales and Scotland, May will tell the Northern Irish first minister and deputy first minister that the government will engage fully with the Northern Irish leaders as it prepares its stance on negotiations.
On Monday, a coalition of Northern Ireland politicians and human rights activists threatened to mount a legal challenge against Brexit unless the accord is protected.
“We intend to work with the prime minister and all our partners in the European Union and in the Northern Ireland Executive to make sure we can achieve the best outcome in the forthcoming negotiations”.
She said: “I stood on the steps of 10 Downing Street and said that my Government will be a Government for the whole of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland is a valued part and I’m very clear that the Government will deliver on the Stormont House agreement and the Fresh Start Agreement”.
She has insisted she will involve both Stormont and Holyrood in the negotiations around the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union to “make a success of Brexit”.
Ms May will try to convince them both that she will keep Northern Ireland’s concerns in mind during the Brexit negotiations.
The referendum result, said the Belfast Telegraph, has sparked a renewed debate on a potential referendum on Irish reunification with the Republic of Ireland.
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Britain and Ireland share an open-border Common Travel Area that dates back to the 1920s, continuing arrangements from before Irish independence.
