A LEADING DUP peer feels that the recently agreed Windsor Framework could result in Fermanagh and the North becoming ‘a magnet for asylum seekers’.
Nigel Dodds, who was raised in Fermanagh and attended school at Portora, made an address at the House of Lords in Westminster and he voiced his frustration at the DUP deal and the UK-Rwanda treaty.
The UK-Rwanda treaty is an agreement which gives the UK Government the platform to deport people seeking asylum in Britain to Rwanda, a country in East Africa.
The former DUP MLA said that the Windsor Framework could affect the UK-Rwanda treaty deal in the North, but his claims were knocked back by the UK Government.
“The Rwanda Bill has been drafted to remain within our international obligations,” said a spokesperson for the Home Office.
“The Bill will apply in full in Northern Ireland and the Government is clear that nothing in the Windsor Framework affects its proper operation on a UK-wise basis.”
Speaking in the House of Lords, the 65-year-old politician said that the recent deal which helped restore the Stormont Executive could have an impact on the implementation of the Rwanda Bill in the North.
“They will say that the less rigorous application of procedures and sanctions will not apply in Northern Ireland. Therefore, people will want to move there,” said Lord Dodds, in Westminster.
“Then, not only will we have a trade border, but potentially a people border at some point in the future.
“That raises some very serious constitutional issues and very serious issues about democracy itself,” he added.
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