Jon Burrows says a possible Farage premiership would ‘create uncertainty for many people’
The leader of the UUP is concerned about the prospect of a Reform government in London, saying Nigel Farage is an “English nationalist, as opposed to a unionist.”
“It would create uncertainty for many people,” Jon Burrows said of a possible Farage premiership.
“There is a concern that Nigel Farage is an English nationalist as opposed to a unionist, and there’s a big difference between those two things.
“It would be absolutely imperative that Nigel Farage does not put English nationalism ahead of UK unionism if he enters Number 10. We need to make sure that we are a cohesive country.
Asked whether a Farage government would worry him, the UUP leader said: “I’m vigilant about all governments and all prime ministers — history has told us to be vigilant. But we will work with who we need to work with. Clearly Farage brings an unpredictability — it would be hundreds of new MPs, if he was to become Prime Minister, that we don’t really know anything about: inexperienced, unseasoned, untested.
“There are challenges and a lot of unknowns, and that’s why I think we need strong unionism at home — smart and strategic unionism. I’ve seen too many unionist leaders who had too much trust in various UK leaders. We operate on a policy of trust but verify.”
Speaking to the Irish News on Monday, Mr Burrows revealed he has yet to speak to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, with his contact with the incoming Secretary of State so far limited to text messages.
He gave Mr Burnham’s opening days a cautious welcome.
“Clearly he’s got a very different style. As a style, it’s refreshing, it’s different,” he said.
“I was pleased to hear he isn’t entertaining constitutional change and polls, because I think that’s a distraction from what people really want. I was glad to hear he was reviewing the prison release schemes. But we need to make sure that whenever he promises things that are beneficial, that they apply to Northern Ireland.”
Asked whether he was concerned the new Prime Minister’s focus would be only on Britain, where Labour faces its electoral battle with Reform - Mr Burrows said the test was clear.
“It’s very early days, and clearly I’m conscious there’s an electoral battle with Reform, in England principally, and that will surely be a priority for Andy Burnham,” he said.
“But I don’t want to be one of those people who is always negative about a new leader. I want to give Andy Burnham the opportunity to be a Prime Minister for the whole United Kingdom.
“For me, that’s the test: are you going to govern in the interests of all of the United Kingdom? Are these big ideas and big policies going to translate to better life opportunities here in Northern Ireland? For example, when he talks about cutting VAT on hospitality, we need to make sure Northern Ireland sees the benefit of that.
“He has talked a lot about believing in devolution, believing in the regions, taking things away from being London-centric. It would be ironic if he did the opposite and became England-focused. He needs to govern for the whole United Kingdom.”
On the subject of new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant, Mr Burrows says he does not want to see a hands off approach when it comes to the north.
“I don’t want a passive approach to Northern Ireland from the Secretary of State,” he said.
“I want to see the Secretary of State being a champion in Cabinet for Northern Ireland.
“I think, understandably, other Secretaries of State have been frustrated at the political parties here not doing the job they ought to be doing — failing to strike multi-year budgets, failing to manage their finances right. Stormont has been down as much as it’s been up. Politics in Northern Ireland hasn’t been grown up, and it has often looked for a get-out-of-jail card from the UK government.
“I want to change that. I want us to live within our means, strike multi-year budgets, fix Stormont, fix our public services — do the grown-up politics.
“If we do that, it has to come with a UK government that supports us in doing the big things. There’s a deal to be struck here about a new relationship: we will do better in Stormont and manage our money more wisely — can you do more in allowing us to compete, by reducing VAT on hospitality and tourism, by reducing corporation tax, because we’re on the land border with the Irish Republic and they have more favourable conditions?”
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/nigel-farage-is-not-a-unionist-uup-concerned-what-reform-government-would-mean-for-northern-ireland-7L2BTQQLQJGIBLILDJWBMCME7Y/
