Northern Irish politician shuts down Ann Widdecombe, saying ‘no-deal Brexit might not hurt rich people in London but it will hurt people here’ ‘Your crazy no-deal Brexit may not hurt the super wealthy in London but it’ll certainly hurt ordinary people here’

Brexit Party MEP elect Ann Widdecombe faced a fiery response from Northern Irish politician Claire Hanna during a BBC debate after she attempted to make light of the impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland.

The MLA for South Belfast criticised the former Tory minister, who has made a political comeback in Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, for her “crazy no-deal Brexit” during a debate on the Nolan show on Tuesday night.

Ms Widdecombe, who was elected in May in the European elections in the South West of England region, had attempted to make light of the threat of a hard-border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

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‘You know nothing about the lives of people here’

But she then taunted Ms Hanna after she called for a second vote on Brexit, saying: “What you’re not telling me is if you have your second referendum and you get the same result where exactly does that leave you?”

This prompted an angry response from the MLA, who is currently not sitting as the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2017.

Ms Hanna told the MEP: “You know nothing about the lives of people here if you say ‘what are people worried about.’ People are worried about an open border that we’ve enjoyed for the last 20 years and the peace that is has facilitated.

‘A business transaction happens every six seconds’

The nationalist MP, who resigned the SDLP whip over plans to link with a centre-right party in the Republic, continued telling Ms Widdecombe: “You know nothing about the fact that a business transaction happens every six seconds across this border, you know nothing about the fact that 30,000 people cross it every day”

“You know nothing about the lives of people here so if you so casually say ‘what are people worried about here’ come and spend some time here and understand what people are worried about with your crazy, no-deal Brexit, that may not hurt the super wealthy in London but it’ll certainly hurt ordinary people here.”

Northern Irish border

The Northern Irish border emerged as the thorniest issue in Brexit negotiations despite having received little scrutiny during the 2016 referendum.

Both the UK and EU have tried to find a solution that reconciles the need for there to be no hard border between the two countries and the UK’s decision to leave the single market.

The result has been the controversial backstop proposals that would keep the UK inside the Customs Union and Northern Ireland aligned with EU regulations if no trade deal is arranged by the end of a transitional period that could last until 2022.

The backstop caused uproar in the Tory Party and saw the Brexit deal defeated three times, eventually toppling Theresa May.