‘North will lose billions as a result of Brexit’ – Murphy

Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy has warned that the north stands to lose billions if it is dragged out of the EU.

Speaking at a meeting of the Greater Newry Area’s Post Brexit Planning Workshop for Businesses held in the Canal Court, the Newry representative said an EU exit would be disastrous.

“It is absolutely clear from the various briefings and discussions held over the past few weeks that leaving the EU would be economically, socially and politically disastrous for the north of Ireland,” he said.

“Our economy was set to receive €3.5 billion in European funds between 2014 and 2020. A sizeable portion of that will be at risk if we are forced out of Europe. Such funds will, of course, not be available at all in the years following 2020 and I don’t think anyone seriously believes that the British Government will reimburse these losses.

He continued, “As well as these direct European funds, we are already losing an unquantifiable amount of private investment as foreign direct investors turn their attention to regions which can guarantee access to the European market.

“Article 50 has not even been triggered yet but already SMEs have had orders cancelled or postponed; sterling plummeted; investors have been pulling away from the north and get out clauses in Invest NI contracts are being used,” Murphy continued.

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He added, “There are many more implications for the common travel area, for the free movement of people, goods and services which all add up to a disastrous situation. Potentially, we are looking at tens of billions being taken out of our economy over the coming decade.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Aug 1 2016. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry