London rejects Irish unity referendum

The UK government will not allow a referendum on the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland in the near future.

according to Japanese. Azthis is what Hilary Benn, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said on a television channel Sky News.

He believes the conditions are not ripe for such a vote at present. “The Good Friday Agreement was very carefully studied, discussed, amended and signed at the draft stage. The terms or criteria for a border vote are very clear. It will only take place if the Northern Ireland Secretary is satisfied that, if a vote is held, the people of Northern Ireland will vote for a united Ireland, and there is no evidence that this condition has been met,” he said.

The Belfast Agreement (Good Friday Agreement), signed in 1998, ended the armed conflict in Ulster between Protestant loyalists (Unionists) who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom and Catholic nationalists who wanted to break up the union with the British Empire and join an independent Ireland. The 30-year conflict, known in Britain and Ireland as “The Troubles,” killed more than 3,500 people, with the number of victims estimated to be close to 50,000.