Former British prime ministers and political adversaries John Major and Tony Blair were singing from the same hymn sheet when they visited a former theological college in Derry on behalf of the Remain campaign in the forthcoming Brexit referendum.
Former Conservative leader Mr Major and former Labour leader Mr Blair, who succeeded Mr Major as prime minister, told an audience of secondary school students at the Ulster University’s Magee campus why they believed it was vital for the UK to vote to remain within the EU on June 23rd.
The former political opponents used the opportunity at the packed Great Hall on the Magee campus, which opened in 1865 as a Presbyterian arts and theology college, to drive home their message ahead of the vote.
Prior to their arrival at the university, both former politicians stopped briefly to visit Ebrington Square, which contained the British army’s headquarters in Derry during the Troubles.
They then posed for photographs on Derry’s symbolic Peace Bridge before making their way to the campus.
Mr Major told the students that a strong united Europe, whcih includes the UK, was essential not just for economic reasons, but also for international relationships.
He cited the recent EU sanctions against Russia and Iran as examples of how a united Europe could work for the benefit of its 500 million-strong population.
“The very unity of the United Kingdom itself is on the ballot paper on June 23rd and a British exit from the European Union could tear apart the oldest union in world history,” he said.
Mr Major said a vote to leave the EU could impact on the Northern Ireland peace process.
“All the pieces of the peace process jigsaw would be thrown into the air and no one knows where those pieces would land,” he said.
Peace negotiations
Tony Blair said that, based on his experiences of the “painstaking and difficult” negotiations which culminated in the Good Friday Agreement, “it would be profoundly dangerous to endanger the unity of the UK.
“If the United Kingdom votes to leave, it will create a unique situation here in Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland will be in and the UK out.
“The border with the Republic of Ireland will then become the border of the European Union, with border controls, customs checks, both of which will be damaging to trade. That would be unforgivably irresponsible,” he said.
The first question during a brief questions and answers session with the students was asked by Thornhill College pupil Anna McAree.
“Given that the EU is an elitist group but Northern Ireland is not a rich country, why should the working class here vote to stay in?” she asked.
Mr Major replied that his roots were working class and that he was brought up in “a multi-occupied, multi-racial house in Brixton”.
He said the UK economy was the best performing economy in Europe and he said the EU was not an elitist organisation but one which represented everyone.
Mr Major said there were 50,000 jobs in Northern Ireland that were directly linked to the EU.
He also said that 60 per cent of goods manufactured in Northern Ireland were exported to the EU.
Caoimhe Toland, a Lumen Christi College student, who is an elected member of the UK’s student parliament, wanted to know how students in Northern Ireland would benefit from continuing to remain within the EU.
Mr Major said there were 43,000 EU academics currently working and teaching in the UK and he believed a Leave vote would inhibit them from remaining in the UK.
Mr Blair also hit out at the Leave campaign, claiming it puts an “ideological fixation” with Brexit ahead of the damage it would cause.
“I say, don’t take a punt on these people. Don’t let them take risks with Northern Ireland’s future. Don’t let them undermine our United Kingdom.
“We understand that, although today Northern Ireland is more stable and more prosperous than ever, that stability is poised on carefully constructed foundations.
“And so we are naturally concerned at the prospect of anything that could put those foundations at risk.”
In the House of Commons, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds condemned Mr Blair’s comments as “irresponsible nonsense” that was “dangerous and destabilising”.
But Mr Dodds called for a debate “to allow us time to debunk the nonsense being spoken today by the former prime minister Tony Blair about the peace process and the political process in Northern Ireland being under threat if we vote to leave the European Union”.
“Surely this is the most irresponsible talk that can be perpetuated in terms of Northern Ireland — very dangerous, destabilising and it should not be happening,” he added during the business statement in the Commons.
Allegiance
Meanwhile, the rival camps clashed over the NHS as Tory MP and Commons Health Select Committee chairwoman Sarah Wollaston switched her allegiance from Leave to Remain.
She said she changed sides because she did not believe the key anti-EU argument that withdrawal would hand the NHS an extra £350 million a week.
In a post on her blog she said: “The claims about health from the Leave campaign have been shameful. They have knowingly placed a financial lie at the heart of their campaign, even emblazoning it on their battle bus alongside the NHS branding to imply a financial bonanza. It’s an empty promise and one which would soon backfire.”
Brexit-backing Tory John Redwood said he hoped Dr Wollaston would reconsider, but acknowledged the £350 million was the gross figure of the UK’s contribution to the EU, before the rebate and the money that came back to the UK.
Former cabinet minister Mr Redwood told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Our Brexit budget has always concentrated on all the money we do send to them that we don’t get back, which is about half of that gross total.”
He added: “I hope Sarah will think again because she, like me, thinks we need to spend more money on health.
“We can do so out of all the money that we save and we would also be able to give that cancellation of VAT on fuel to people’s households.”
MPs will vote later on emergency legislation allowing a 48-hour extension to the deadline to register for the landmark poll after the official website crashed, leaving tens of thousands of would-be voters in limbo on Tuesday.
Downing Street insisted the action was legal, despite some in the Leave camp claiming it was an attempt to ensure more Remain supporters got on the voting rolls in time for the June 23rd showdown.
Leave EU chief Arron Banks indicated he could seek a judicial review of the decision.
Additional reporting: PA
