SF MLA rejects British Border Force plans

The British Government has recently confirmed plans to hire 1,000 new customs and immigration staff to secure its borders post-Brexit. The Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee was told recently by Home Secretary Amber Rudd that a UK national advertising campaign for the Border Force staff who will be “placed across the country.”

Foyle MLA Mr. McCartney said: “With this British Border Force recruitment drive, the British Government is clearly planning to impose their hard Brexit border across the island of Ireland.

“It shows that the Tories see a hard border as the predetermined outcome of the Brexit negotiations despite the fact they have already agreed to an option to avoid it.”

Mr. McCartney said there can be “no Tory-DUP Brexit border across Ireland. “This is a deeply damaging, disruptive and dangerous position, rejected overwhelmingly by the people of this island,” he said. “It also points to the Tory-DUP pact’s growing disregard for the Good Friday Agreement, which allows citizens to determine their own identity free from discrimination.

“Not only are they ignoring the democratic expressions of Irish citizens, they’re also actively excluding them by reserving these posts solely for citizens with British passports.”