DUP ‘broadening’ Farage’s understanding of Northern Ireland – Robinson

The DUP has been having conversations with Nigel Farage to “broaden his understanding” of Northern Ireland, Gavin Robinson has said.

The unionist leader said immigration policy had to be applied consistently across the UK and he did not want Northern Ireland to be a “casualty of a focus that is broadly based in England”.

In a recent speech setting out his immigration plans, Mr Farage suggested the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland, could be “renegotiated” to remove references to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

He later said Northern Ireland would “not be at the forefront” of actions by a Reform UK government to deal with immigration.

Asked about his view on the comments, DUP leader Mr Robinson said: “I think whenever we have conversations with him, normally it is to broaden his understanding of Northern Ireland and the complexities we have.

“He made commentary in the summer about ECHR and about how he was frustrated by constraints of the past, so he would deliver a solution and then think about Northern Ireland thereafter.

“He is not saying that now. We have indicated to him very clearly we are not going to be in a second-tier role from the rest of our country.

“There is a unity and an integrity to our immigration policy on the basis that it is UK-wide.”

He added: “I think it is important we maintain those relationships and help him understand how we don’t come second, we have an integrated system within our United Kingdom and it needs to be maintained.

“He gets it. But we spend that time making sure we are not the casual consequence or the casualty of a focus that is broadly based in England.”

Mr Robinson said he believed support for Mr Farage was now spreading beyond his traditional base.

He said: “Whether you like his politics or not, his political vehicles are now stretching.

“Where in the past it was solely the preserve of English cities, outside of the urban centre in London you will now see there is Reform presence and interest in Reform in Scotland and in Wales.

“As to whether he becomes prime minister or not, I think it is too early to say and polls can fluctuate. At this stage it is a possibility, not a probability.

“But next May you will get a very clear indication as to the strength of feeling to his party, not just in the cycle of local government elections in England, but in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly too.”

Mr Robinson also warned that politicians need to respond to the concerns people have around immigration.

He said: “We can’t ignore the concerns of people.

“We can’t abandon those people who share concerns. We can’t dismiss them, we can’t sneer at them, we have to engage with them.

“Immigration is the single biggest issue across the United Kingdom.

“This week we saw that the Prime Minister’s chief aim, to stop the boats, which is a one-in, one-out policy, which has frailties of itself, was stopped again by the courts.

“We have a Prime Minister who has spent a career on the the side of liberal interpretation of the law and a strict adherence to the ECHR, he is now being frustrated in his aims and objectives by the very laws that he championed for so many years.

“He is now going to find the same legal constraints imposed on him and his efforts that Rishi Sunak did and as Boris Johnson did.”

He added: “Whether you like it or not there was a considerable presence on the streets of London last Saturday, whether you like it or not there are other people who aren’t prepared to stand in the streets but who are concerned, who are fearful and they are looking to politics to deliver.”