Doug Beattie – 2022 Statement Rejecting Joint Authority in Northern Ireland

The statement made by Doug Beattie, the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, on 26 October 2022.

The Ulster Unionist Party has already very firmly rejected the notion of Joint Authority between London and Dublin in Northern Ireland.

As Unionists we are clear that only the United Kingdom has the right to exercise sovereignty over Northern Ireland.

We would advise anyone seeking the imposition of Joint Authority to read the Belfast Agreement, especially the section ‘Constitutional Issues’ where it states that ‘it would be wrong to make any change in the status of Northern Ireland save with the consent of a majority of its people.’

Joint Authority would clearly be a massive change in our constitutional status.

The Belfast Agreement has already been damaged by the NI Protocol and the imposition of a border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. Clearly any attempt to impose some form of Joint Authority between London and Dublin on Northern Ireland would run contrary to that, breach the Principle of Consent and deal a fatal blow to the Belfast Agreement.

We need to focus our efforts on getting Stormont back up and running again and working the Belfast Agreement. That is what Northern Ireland needs right now.