Nigel Farage as British PM would put Irish unity ‘centre stage'
Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Irish unity would become 'centre stage' if Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was elected UK prime minister.
Mr Varadkar, who stood down as Taoiseach in April last year, said it is possible Mr Farage will be prime minister in four years or nine years time.
Advertisement
He described British politics as 'very volatile'.
Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that planning for a united Ireland should be under way. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA.
Reform made big gains in local elections in England and Wales in May.
Mr Varadkar told BBC Northern Ireland's The View programme, which will be aired on Thursday night, that he hoped Mr Farage is not the next British prime minister.
The former Fine Gael leader said if the Reform leader became prime minister, it would 'change the pictures in terms of attitudes towards independence in Scotland'.
Advertisement
'I think it would change the views of some people in the middle ground in Northern Ireland (towards Irish unity),' he said.
'It isn't just because a right-wing nationalist government in London would want to bring the UK and Northern Ireland away from Europe. It is other things as well.'
He also claimed that councils run by Reform in England were preventing people from flying Pride or progress flags.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks during a press conference at Church House in Westminster, London. Photo: Jeff Moore/PA.
Mr Varadkar added: 'I don't think most people in Northern Ireland would like that.
Advertisement
'If that's the kind of government they had in London versus a government in Dublin that was very different, it might make them more likely to vote yes to unification,' he added.
'I do want to be very clear about this, it's not something I hope happens.
'I hope it doesn't happen.'
Mr Varadkar said he believes planning for a united Ireland should be happening, but that a date should not be fixed as the numbers to win are not in place.
Advertisement
He added: 'I don't think a united Ireland is inevitable, I think it's something that we have to work towards.
'But I think there are a lot of factors that would suggest that we're on that trajectory.
'Demographic factors, polling, even the most recent numbers showing that a very clear majority of younger people in Northern Ireland want there to be a new united Ireland.'
'I think that will carry true, and that's why I think it's something that we should plan for.'
Advertisement
Ireland
Kallas criticised over 'clear lack of understandin...
Read More
He said Irish unity will not happen 'by osmosis or by accident'.
'I think (it) has to be worked towards. I think those of us who believe in it have a duty to make the case for it,' he added.
'Look at the trajectory, and that is clear. We see it in elections. We see it in opinion polls. We see it in demographics.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
If Donald Trump strikes Iran, Britain MUST back US and Israel to the hilt
NO ONE knows exactly how close Iran is to making a nuclear weapon. Not least because it has banned international inspectors from finding out. 2 But their intention is clear. Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed country in the world to have enriched uranium at such high levels. Tehran's fanatical Islamists also want desperately to fire a nuke warhead at Israel and wipe it out. Donald Trump already offered Iran a way out — by giving up its nuclear programme. It responded with a bombing attack on an Israeli hospital. There is a powerful case for Trump to now order a bunker-buster bomb raid on Iran's underground network Not only could it destroy the mad mullahs' ambitions for a nuclear holocaust. It could also define his presidency. Strong intervention now will show other despots the US is back as a global deterrent force after Joe Biden 's humiliating Afghanistan withdrawal. So far, Sir Keir Starmer 's response has been insipid — trotting out the usual Foreign Office lines about the need for de-escalation. But if America strikes, Britain MUST back them and Israel to the hilt. Iran — with secret agents from its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operating on our streets — is a threat to us, too. It's no surprise to learn that Attorney General Lord Hermer has warned Starmer that UK involvement 'could' be illegal. When it comes to national security, he has been on the wrong side of every argument so far. The Prime Minister needs to be crystal clear with Lord Hermer — and everybody else — that British interests lie with Israel and America. The stakes could not be higher. Paradise last SUCH is the new Europe-wide anti-immigration crackdown, Britain remains the last paradise for illegal migrants. Countries such as Denmark and Sweden are turning asylum-seekers away at the door. 2 Meanwhile, the UK escorts them across the Channel and puts them up indefinitely in hotels. If only we could follow Australia's example and cut numbers to next to nothing with a scheme to send migrants to a third country. Except we did have one. The Rwanda plan — spitefully scrapped by Labour — WAS working to deter migrants, who had started heading to Ireland instead. Australia's former foreign minister Alexander Downer, the architect of his country's successful scheme, calls that decision a 'tragedy' for Britain. We can only agree. One day, ministers will have to admit what a terrible mistake they made.
Telegraph
42 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Loophole that lets terrorists enter UK to be closed
Suspected terrorists will no longer be able to exploit a loophole that allows them to enter Britain despite being stripped of citizenship. Ministers are to pass legislation that will ensure citizenship is not automatically reinstated if terrorists successfully appeal against a decision to strip them of it. The loophole, identified by the Supreme Court, would mean that they could return to the UK while the Government sought to overturn the successful appeal. The terror suspects could then renounce any other citizenship that they had, which would mean that Britain would have no option but to allow them to stay in the UK and could not deport them. Under international law, governments cannot render a person stateless by stripping them of their citizenship if they are not citizens of another country. 'An essential tool' Official data suggests more than 1,000 Britons were deprived of their citizenship between 2010 and 2023, including Shamima Begum, one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria in 2015 to support the IS group. She fought a series of high-profile legal battles to return to the UK after being stripped of her citizenship in 2019, but has remained unsuccessful. It mirrors the case of two Pakistani members of one of the most notorious grooming gangs in Rotherham, whom the Government stripped of their British citizenship. Qari Abdul Rauf, a 55-year-old father of five and Adil Khan, 54, were jailed for their part in sexually assaulting 47 girls. They subsequently renounced their Pakistani citizenship, effectively declaring themselves stateless. Pakistan is refusing to take them back on the basis that they have renounced their citizenship and are regarded as dangerous criminals. Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said: 'Protecting our national security and keeping the British public safe is the first duty of this government and the foundation of our Plan for Change. The power to deprive someone of their British citizenship is an essential tool, and helps protect us from some of the most dangerous people. 'We must close this gap in the law and prevent British citizenship being reinstated to individuals until all appeals have been determined. This is the right thing to do if we believe someone is a threat to our national security, and it will make Britain safer.' For the public good The Home Office said deprivation decisions on 'conducive to the public good' grounds were taken only in the most serious cases by the Home Secretary, where it is in the public interest to do so because of the individual's conduct or the threat they pose to the UK. About 222 of the those deprived of citizenship between 2010-2023 were for the public good. In 2018, the number of appeals reached a record high of 88 as the UK sought to counter the threat from Islamic state fighters returning home. That was up from just five in 2011. The change in the law follows the similar approach taken in asylum and human rights appeals cases, where asylum is not granted to a person appealing a rejection until all further appeals, up to the Court of Appeal, have been determined. Home Office officials said the narrowly focused Bill, consisting of two clauses, made no change to a person's existing right to appeal any decision to remove their British citizenship, and did not widen the reasons for which a person could be deprived of their citizenship.
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Harvie's last hurrah? Even Frank Sinatra's farewell didn't drag on this long
Thursday was Patrick Harvie's final First Minister's Questions as Scottish Green co-leader. He's standing down to spend more time with anyone but Ross Greer. A sneer in search of a personality, Harvie has never contributed much in the way of wit but he makes up for it with pique. I'm an aficionado of parliamentary spite and Harvie has always had it in plentiful supply. Perhaps he kept some in reserve for his final showstopper, for he used his allotted two questions to spit venom at John Swinney. Harvie reckoned Swinney's anti far-Right summit was little more than a talking shop and only confirmed 'a real sense of drift from the first minister'. Moreover, Swinney lacked 'ambition and leadership', and Harvie 'genuinely struggled to think of a single signature policy that he has delivered in his year in the job'. There speaks a man who clearly missed the Short Life Working Group on Economic and Social Opportunities for Gaelic. He began rhyming off Swinney's sins, such as watering down rental controls, U-turning on a new national park, and failing to make progress on human rights. By now the little cabbage was getting so steamed he was at risk of wilting. He was banging on so much that Presiding Officer Alison Johnson finally stepped in and told him to clamp it. Even Sinatra's farewell tour didn't last this long. Aware that he no longer needed to humour the prickliest cactus this side of the Mississippi, Swinney let him have it: 'I appreciate that this is his last First Minister's question time as co-convener of the Green Party, so saying all that to me might have been his last hurrah.' The First Minister didn't fare as well up against Russell Findlay. The Scottish Tory leader gets a gold star for a splendid piece of work on thuggery in schools and the SNP's 49-page guidelines on excluding violent pupils, which he branded 'tedious, hand-wringing nonsense'. Swinney protested that he was 'listening to the teaching profession', just as he had 'throughout my time as education secretary'. We can only hope for his sake that he wasn't listening too closely. As I recall, the consensus among teachers at the time was made up mostly of words you couldn't repeat in a classroom. This allowed Findlay to have some fun, by reading aloud some highlights. When pupils become violent, the document said, teachers should give them 'a laminated paper with a set of bullet points that tell them to think about their behaviour'. When a wee toerag is engaging in 'unsafe behaviour', educators are advised to start 'a conversation to jointly problem solve with the child'. Disruptive pupils, meanwhile, 'should be allowed to leave class two minutes early'. Personally, I think classroom chairs should be replaced with ejector seats and teachers handed a remote control. The First Minister accused Findlay of 'a failure to address the mechanisms and interventions that are required to solve a difficult issue'. Another reason to consider my idea. We'd hire engineers to make sure the ejector seats had really good mechanisms. The fresh guidance, Swinney said, was intended to 'de-escalate situations' and 'address the underlying causes'. And he was against too many exclusions because those pupils would be 'out on the streets and, potentially, able to become involved in criminal activity'. That's how Ronnie Biggs got started, you know. Teacher put him out of class for talking once and next thing you know he was robbing trains. Later in the afternoon, minister Ivan McKee was sent out to announce plans to save £1billion a year in waste, in what is being nicknamed 'McDoge' after Elon Musk's venture during the early months of the second Trump administration. Given that the task of reining in government misspending proved too much for a man who puts rockets in space, I'm not holding out hope that Ivan McKee will do much better.
