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Sunak and Starmer may not want to talk Brexit, but these party leaders certainly do
Five years ago it was indisputably the Brexit election, but this time round it’s become something of an elephant in the room.
But in Northern Ireland, none of the party leaders are shy of talking about the impact of Britain leaving the EU.
Our senior Ireland correspondent David Blevins has spoken to them all about the legacy of the 2016 referendum – and how a new government at Westminster might change things.
As David notes, to “get Brexit done” the Tory government put a trade border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Great Britain – something that was once unthinkable.
Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Fein:
“I think there’s an opportunity now with what potentially looks like a Labour government coming into play to reverse the damage of Brexit.
“And actually, I would hope we get to the point where actually we reverse the Brexit decision altogether.
“That may not be where Labour are headed, but I think there is an opportunity to reset relationships, critically between London and Dublin, because those have been very much fractured.”
Emma Little-Pengelly, DUP:
“The Conservative Party and the UK government botched Brexit and Northern Ireland was the victim of that.
“We called out the Conservative Party on this at every single stage.
“We had to fight incredibly hard to try to undo the damage made by the decisions made by the Conservative Party in government.
“But of course it was us fighting for that, while others were agitating and pushing for rigorous implementation of that really bad deal.”
Naomi Long, Alliance:
“What we need to do looking forward is say… how do we make the benefits of the Windsor Framework work in our advantage?
“We have a unique position in Northern Ireland in terms of trade: we can trade freely into GB, we can trade freely with the Irish Republic, but more than that, we are a foot in the European Union.”
Colum Eastwood, SDLP:
“Brexit has been a disaster for the whole of the UK, I would argue, economically and in many other ways, but we felt it much more keenly here because we share a border with the European Union.
“We had to do an awful lot of work to put things back together after the mess that was made by Brexit and Boris Johnson and the DUP.
“From our perspective, there’s no better outcome than actually being back in the European Union lock, stock, and barrel.”
Doug Beattie, UUP:
“Brexit was a defining moment.
“It absolutely undermined the cohesion of the United Kingdom, and I think we can see the out workings of that even today.
“And whatever government gets in – and we all think it’s going to be a Labour government – I think they’re going to have to work on that cohesion as one of their main outputs.”
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