Prime minister meets Northern Ireland first minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly
Sinn Féin leaders have welcomed the election of the Labour government. Speaking after a meeting with Keir Starmer in Belfast, Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin president who is leader of the opposition in Ireland, and Michelle O’Neill, the first minister and Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland, made it clear that they preferred working with a Labour government at Westminster than a Conservative one. McDonald said:
This is the government that we wish to work with in a constructive way. We are very conscious that, 26 years ago, a British Labour government was at the heart of striking the Good Friday agreement. We want this British government to be at the heart of honoring that agreement, fulfilling that agreement in all of its parts. And we’re going to work very, very constructively for that to happen.
Because the opportunities that the challenges that we face as societies are real and substantial, but the opportunities too are there for us to grasp.
There is not a secret tax plan. This was an attack from the Conservatives. It is not a reflection of reality.
Our manifesto commitments, our priorities that we’re now implementing, our first six steps and our missions are funded with the loophole changes that were in the back of the manifesto that people voted for last Thursday.
