Newcastle venue for a historic political event
Oct 21 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
NEWCASTLE has hosted a historic meeting between British and Irish politicians in which Ulster Unionists took part in co-operation talks for the first time.
Members of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body met in Gosforth yesterday and were joined by members of the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party, who have boycotted the group since it was formed in 1990.
Former Northern Ireland secretary of state Peter Hain was present for the meeting in which Irish and British MPs gather to discuss closer links.
At the Gosforth Marriott Hotel he said: “For the first time today the Ulster Unionist and the Democratic Unionists are now here.
“This today is another stage in the peace process really. It is about bringing people together who were previously fighting each other and who are now working together.
“And this is us saying the war is behind us, the fighting is over, how do we work together?
“The atmosphere has been great, there’s a lot of co-operation and leg-pulling.
“And you have to realise that when this was set up more than 20 years ago we could not exchange words without a fight breaking out.
“And that was British and Irish parliamentarians, let alone the parts of Northern Ireland where the bombs were going off. So it does signify a transformation, and our agenda has changed from building trust to looking at the challenges we face together.”
Mr Hain co-chairs the group which will today continue to discuss ways for the various economies to work together.
Former UUP MP, Lord Maginnis of Drumglass, yesterday took his seat at the assembly meeting in Newcastle, alongside UUP Stormont MLA David McClarty and DUP MLA Jim Wells.
He told The Journal: “It has been an interesting day and a chance to move forward.”
But Lord Maginnis almost didn’t make it as he mistakenly journeyed to Newcastle in County Down.
Blaydon MP Dave Anderson, an associate member of the cross-party group, said the meeting was a great step forward: “It was really positive that the Unionists turned up. We had a good discussion about building better relations.”
Meetings of the BIIPB are regularly held in the UK, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
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