Robert Jenrick has hit back at Donald Trump’s claim that he would “love” to see a united Ireland and said the US President should have “butted out” of British politics.
Reform UK’s treasury spokesman said Trump “shouldn’t have weighed into British politics” when he claimed Irish reunification was inevitable and it “may as well happen now”, during a visit to Dublin on Saturday.
Mr Jenrick told Sky News’s Sunday Morning programme: “If you’re referring to what he said about Ireland he was completely wrong.
“We’re a unionist party. The clue’s in the name, Reform UK, and we’ll always support the union.
“We firmly disagree with Donald Trump on this. He shouldn’t have weighed into British politics. Our borders are our borders. And Reform will always defend the United Kingdom.”
During a visit to Dublin this weekend Trump claimed Irish reunification was inevitable, adding it “may as well happen now”.
Speaking while sitting alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the US president said: “Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you I’d love to see it unified.
“I have friends on both sides, great people. They’re Irish people. How can they be bad, right?
“I’d love to see it unified. I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually.
“You know what? The way I look at it, it’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.
“We’re talking about it and you got the right man over here to get it moving.
“But, yeah, I think it would be a fantastic thing.
“Now the UK will have something to say about it, obviously. But I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how can it be bad?”
But the US President’s opinions caused a triggered a major diplomatic row, with unionist leaders in Northern Ireland, members of Reform and the Conservative party.
This is a developing news story, more to follow…