Debate contribution: Summit on the Break-up of the United Kingdom
Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on .
- MLA
- Mr Jon Burrows
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Matter of the Day
- Heading
- Summit on the Break-up of the United Kingdom
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5685194
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The event in Cardiff is a charade and a circus. It is not three devolved nations gathering for a conference on the break-up of the United Kingdom; it is three nationalist politicians signing each other's manifestos. It counts for absolutely nothing. It is just the same as Donald Trump's loud voice. He has a loud voice but zero votes. Zero votes because the people of Northern Ireland are in charge of their constitutional future — not the leader of Plaid Cymru or the leader of the SNP or Donald Trump but the people of Northern Ireland. Of course, the Members across the Chamber used to call the principle of consent the "unionist veto" or "British veto" when they tried to bomb Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and overturn that principle of consent. However, that is now enshrined in law. It is a disappointment that Sinn Féin is the party of failed promises and failing Ministries. They promise that a united Ireland is just around the corner, and Michelle O'Neill said today that we are in the Union's "final days". In 2003, of course, Martin McGuinness said that there would be a border poll by 2016. In 2020, Mary Lou said that, by 2025, we would have a border poll. Some Members have said that it is just around the corner, over the next bend and within reach. "Touching distance" was one term that was used. Now, it is the "final days". Those are false promises, because here is the reality: the republican movement blew 2,000 people —. I see the newest Member of the Assembly grinning there. It was not funny that your colleagues in the IRA blew 2,000 people to smithereens and shot them in their homes, leaving bereaved mothers and families and orphaning children for a united Ireland that has not come. Now you are having to promise your base that it is just around the corner. Do you know what the people of Northern Ireland want? They want to heal from that and move on, and now it is your Ministries that are destroying the place. There are potholes in the roads and a waste water system that you will not fix. He is still grinning. Families cannot build a home, and that puts rent and house prices up, but he thinks that it is funny. The Economy Minister actually wants to drive jobs away from Northern Ireland and cannot welcome the 3,000 jobs that the Bank of America is bringing. I am told that they say that the staff here are the best in the world. Here is the reality: you can head to Cardiff and sign whatever you wish. It does not change an iota. You can say that Donald Trump is wrong about everything but, suddenly, is right about this. Northern Ireland is in the United Kingdom because the people of Northern Ireland want to keep it there. We are stronger together. We are protected by the fifth- or sixth-largest military in the world and part of the fourth- or fifth-largest economy in the world, and we have record levels of peace. Despite your best efforts, Northern Ireland is in the UK, and that is where we are staying. Get on and do your jobs.
543 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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