Ferguson brands Brexit a ‘child of the DUP’ and says Windsor Framework protects against its ‘worse excesses’ - video Dailymotion

Ferguson brands Brexit a ‘child of the DUP’ and says Windsor Framework protects against its ‘worse excesses’

Transcript

00:00I'm going to start off, I think, with what has to be said. This motion reads to me as little

00:05more than the TUV tail wagging the DUP dog, to be honest. Members, as you are all well aware,

00:13next June will mark a decade, ten years from the Brexit referendum, where the majority of the people

00:20in the North voted to remain within the European Union. The majority of our citizens in the North

00:27were not beguiled by those who found themselves at the behest of Boris and the Brexiteers. And yet,

00:34here we are again, listening to a DUP motion which refuses to acknowledge that the challenges

00:42that they now complain about are, in fact, the very outworkings of that failed project. Challenges in

00:49which we were all well warned about. Economists, commentators, academics, organisations, all

00:57warned of the many potential negative economic and social consequences of Brexit. Some even defined,

01:06thank you, sorry, I'd like to just move on. Some even defined the Brexiteers choice to advocate for

01:13a project which would increase trade barriers and hinder free movement as being the choice to support

01:20self-inflicted recession. Brexit is a child of the DUP. You were repeatedly warned it would be bad for the

01:30North and bad for our economy. If we cast our minds back to the Department of Economy that published a

01:37report in July 2019 warning of 40,000-plus possible job losses, one DUP politician said they could live with

01:48that. Another stated that they would not care what sort of situation they face as long as they're out of

01:56Europe. Those who so winsmally dismissed the quality of the device from so many sectors, I think, have a

02:07brass neck to continue to complain over the outworking of the wheels which they set in motion. Our electorate

02:15here voted overwhelmingly to remain. Our people know only too well the continued impact of Brexit

02:23on our economy, on our trade, on small businesses, on opportunities for students, on our young people,

02:30and even a stronger collective vigilance for human rights and standards within a post-Brexit era.

02:38Equally, however, our people also know that unionism is no longer the monolith it once was. Its

02:44electoral majority in the Assembly and at Westminster is gone. The majority within our local Assembly have

02:51instead voted to continue our post-Brexit trade arrangements and the majority here recognise the

02:58need to maintain hard-fought and hard-won protections against Brexit's worst excesses.