UK PM Theresa May Delivers 'Brexit & Union' Speech in N. Ireland

We must get a Brexit deal that works for every part of the UK, the British leader said on Friday in Belfast amid her two-day visit to Northern Ireland focusing on Brexit and the stalemate at Stormont.

Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: Reuters.
Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: Reuters. 

"Our job is not to deal with Brexit in theory but make a success of it in practice for all of our people. And nowhere is the need for practical solutions more vital than here in Northern Ireland — the only place where the United Kingdom shares a land border with an EU member state that is also a co-signatory to the Belfast agreement," Mrs. May said. 

As the United Kingdom and the European Union are in talks over the Brexit deal, both parties have agreed there should be no hard border in Ireland after Brexit.

Any Brexit agreement would have to provide frictionless trade across Northern Irish border, May said in her speech. She hailed the White Paper produced by the government on the future relations between Britain and the EU. 

The Friday speech in Belfast provided the PM with an opportunity to urge the European Union leaders to take a more flexible view on how to solve the Irish border issue. 

Mrs. May also spoke about the value of the UK union and its potential for the future. "Right across the UK far more unites than divides us," she added.

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