Sinn Fein Wants Vote on Northern Ireland Leaving UK 'as Soon as Possible'

By teleSUR

14 March 17

Fifty-six percent of voters in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union in June last year

orthern Ireland's largest Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein on Monday said it wanted a referendum on splitting from the United Kingdom "as soon as possible," hours after Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon demanded a new independence vote.

Sinn Fein has been regularly calling for a vote for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and unite with the Republic of Ireland since Britain voted to leave the European Union last June while most voters in Northern Ireland voted to remain.

"Brexit will be a disaster for the economy, and a disaster for the people of Ireland. A referendum on Irish unity has to happen as soon a possible," Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill told reporters in Belfast.

Fifty-six percent of voters in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union in June last year, but 52 percent of the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave.

The British government "are continuing to refuse to listen to the majority view and they are refusing to honor their commitments and agreements," O'Neill said.

O'Neill's comments come as British Prime Minister Theresa May is poised to launch the Brexit process, which is expected to have major implications for the economy of Northern Ireland which has close trade links to the Irish Republic, an EU member.