Kate Hoey condemned by her own Labour branch for attacking Good Friday Agreement
2 min read
A Labour MP has been criticised for questioning the viability of the Good Friday Agreement.
Kate Hoey said the current way devolution operates in Northern Ireland was "not sustainable".
Ms Hoey is one of several high-profile Brexiteers who have criticised the Good Friday Agreement recently, with critics accusing them of using it as a smokescreen to divert from the debate on the future of the Irish border.
At a meeting of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee earlier this week, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: "I, for one, will not have the Good Friday Agreement torn up just to facilitate a very awkward negotiation that’s going on between the United Kingdom and the European Commission."
Speaking to the Huffington Post last week, Vauxhall MP Ms Hoey said: "I think there is a need for a cold rational look at the Belfast agreement.
"Even if a settlement had been agreed a few days ago there is nothing to stop Sinn Fein or the DUP finding something else to walk out about in a few months. Mandatory coalition is not sustainable in the long term.
"The Belfast agreement has been changed slightly over the years with the St Andrew’s agreement. We need to face reality - Sinn Fein don’t particularly want a successful Northern Ireland. They want a united Ireland."
But Ms Hoey's constituency Labour party last night unanimously passed a motion condemning her remarks.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair has said the suggestion the Good Friday Agreement - which he helped to negotiate 20 years ago - should be scrapped was "sickening".
He said: "There are politicians prepared to sacrifice the Good Friday Agreement on the altar of Brexit and declare that the peace agreed in Northern Ireland is not, really, worth having anyway.
"This is irresponsibility that is frankly sickening."
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