Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland Stephen Pound has earned praise for his refreshing and passionate comments on the threat of Brexit to the Irish border.
Speaking at the Labour party conference, Mr Pound exclaimed that the issue of the border was “life and death for the people of Ireland”.
"This is life and death to the people of Ireland."
Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland Stephen Pound MP, discussing Brexit's impact on Northern Ireland and Ireland, says as soon as you've got "uniformed officers on that border", the "peace process is finished". pic.twitter.com/dcryXZvB0N— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) September 24, 2018
During an interview with Channel 4 News, he said: “If you look at the border, 302 miles long, of you think that a camera up a pole can provide a border security alert -that will become a target.
“If you have a target, you have to defend the target. If you have a defender, you have to have someone to actually protect the defender. Before you know where you are, you’ve got uniformed UK (Border Agency) or customs officers on the border.
“If you do that – and I’m not being hysterical about this – then the peace process is finished, the minute you have uniformed troops on that border. If the peace process is finished, then peace on the island of Ireland is under huge threat.
“So if we cannot get that right, then we cannot get anything right. The Irish border is the issue.”
Pound’s comments were seen by a breath of fresh air by much of the Irish public who are sick and tired of the disrespect surrounding the issue, especially after Boris Johnson recently described the Irish border problem as a “millennium bug”.
One Twitter user named @PadraidMacL said: "The tragedy of Irish history is that we have had so many English politicians like Jacob Rees Mogg and so few like Stephen Pound."
Another user named @Vmckinney87 tweeted: "Thank you Stephen Pound for actually knowing the issues around our borders. I consider my home to be Donegal- don’t make me go through Customs and border checks every time I want to visit family. Also a fundamental point... in NI we voted Remain."
This is brilliant https://t.co/AQCnF5v9ri
— David McWilliams (@davidmcw) September 24, 2018
Absolutely amazed listening to Stephen Pound’s comments on the Irish border today. Blown away to discover that there’s an English MP who both knows what they’re talking about and also actually cares. https://t.co/2DDM4J0Ksz
— Carl Kinsella (@TVsCarlKinsella) September 24, 2018
