South Down MP Margaret Ritchie (SDLP) has said that Ireland’s interests, North and South, are best served within the European Union and that during any referendum, the SDLP will campaign hard to retain membership. It is quite possible that a referendum could be put the the voters in the UK within a year if the Tories winning in the recent General election by a narrow majority.
She said: “During today’s Queen’s Speech, the British Government committed to it’s election pledge of holding a referendum on membership of the European Union by 2017. Cameron has capitulated to the hardline euro-skeptics within his own party and to the rise of populist British nationalism.
South Down MP Margaret Ritchie is determined to oppose leaving the EU if a referendum is called by the Tory government. [/caption]
“The context of this debate is very different in Northern Ireland. We keenly understand the benefits that membership of the European Union brings. Our rural communities, rooted in farming and fisheries, depend on support from Europe to supplement and sustain their industries. As a member of the EFRA committee during the last parliament, I saw the invaluable support offered by the EU. Our urban centres, too, which continue to bear the scars of conflict have been helped along the path to healing by peace funds.
“As a region continuing to emerge from the economic downturn, we will rely substantially on the European Free Market which gives businesses and exporters here access to 500 million consumers. Introducing new barriers to reaching those markets in the current climate would be economic lunacy.
“When the referendum is called, the SDLP will campaign hard to defend our farmers and fishermen, our businesses and our economy by supporting continued membership of the EU.”
Scotland and Wales have also benefitted enormously from EU membership and there may be an opportunity in future to lobby these regions in the UK and put forward a counter argument against leaving the EU. UKIP have avowed to abandon the EU, and with the uncontrolled rising tide of immigration into Britain and EU countries from North Africa, the fear of being overrun will create a hard right in the political spectrum, and it appears already to have affected the policy direction of the Tories.
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