Arlene Foster denies letter is ‘U-turn’ on Brexit

Arlene Foster has been accused of engaging in a "breathtaking reverse ferret" after she and Martin McGuinness wrote to the British prime minister to point out five challenges posed to Northern Ireland after the Brexit vote.

First Minister Ms Foster was yesterday forced to deny that the DUP decision to support the Leave campaign in the referendum on the European Union was a mistake.

The SDLP, Ulster Unionists and Traditional Unionist Voice parties have characterised as a DUP "U-turn" the joint letter that Ms Foster and the Deputy First Minister wrote to Theresa May in relation to Brexit.

"The First Minister has serious questions to answer over the breathtaking reverse ferret she is currently performing," said SDLP Assembly member Claire Hanna. "Ms Foster has clearly realised the error of her ways in backing Brexit and now the horse has bolted, is asking the Conservative government to close the gate."

Ms Foster and Mr McGuinness in their letter to Ms May highlighted five areas of difficulty that the Brexit result could pose for Northern Ireland.

They warned that the Border must not become “a catalyst for illegal activity or compromise in any way the arrangements relating to criminal justice and tackling organised crime”.

They also said the local economy must be protected and that “policies need to be sufficiently flexible to allow access to unskilled as well as highly skilled” foreign labour.

‘Pro-remain’

They also expressed concern over energy costs and what would happen as a result of the loss of EU funding in areas such as agri-food and fisheries.

Opposition parties seized on the letter to contend that Ms Foster, who led her DUP party in supporting Brexit, now demonstrably regretted taking that position. Ms Hanna said: “The letter reads like a pro-remain information leaflet. Indeed, the SDLP campaigned on every one of these issues – particularly on the border, avoiding labour shortages and the loss of EU funding – and the DUP dismissed us at every turn.”

Ulster Unionist finance spokesman Philip Smith asked had "the penny finally dropped with the DUP" over the impact Brexit would have.

"Issues the Ulster Unionist Party highlighted during the EU referendum campaign which the DUP dismissed as scare-mongering are now accepted as key areas for concern," said the Strangford Assembly member.

TUV leader Jim Allister said the letter to Ms May "illustrates an overriding desire by the DUP to pander to the Sinn Féin position of seeking to row back on the decision of our nation" to leave the EU. "The tone and content of this letter is so strongly pro-EU that it is hard to imagine it is co-authored by a party that campaigned for Brexit," he said.

‘Point-scoring’

The criticism of the opposition politicians compelled Ms Foster to go on BBC Radio Ulster yesterday to deny any suggestions of a U-turn.

“Brexit means Brexit, but that doesn’t mean that we close our eyes to the challenges that are there,” said Ms Foster. “We’re extracting ourselves from European Union and it is of course right that we identify where those challenges lie, but I fundamentally believe that there are huge opportunities.”

Mr McGuinness said critics of Ms Foster were engaging in “point-scoring” and it was vital they both present a “joined-up” approach to deal with the challenges posed by Brexit.