Louth councillor: 'We serve neither King nor Keir, we are saying no to the Brit card'

North Louth Sinn Féin local representative, Cllr Antóin Watters, has hit out over proposals by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to introduce so called ‘Brit’ cards in the North of Ireland, expressing concerns for cross-border workers.

Cllr Watters said, “it’s bad enough that this proposal flies in the face of the Good Friday Agreement around national identity, but when questioned, Hilary Benn, British Secretary of State for the North, was vague at best around how it would affect cross-border workers.”

The proposed scheme is a new ID system that would be introduced by 2029, and be mandatory for people working in the UK. Under the plans, anyone starting a new job or looking to rent a home in the UK would be required to show the card on a smartphone app. It would then be checked against a central database of people entitled to live and work in the UK. The information recorded on it will include a name, date of birth, nationality or residency status and a photo.

Cllr Watters said: “We have a sizable number of workers who live in the South and work in the North. What will be the ramifications for them? This could be problematic.

"The Secretary of State offered little comfort when questioned specifically about cross-border workers saying that there would be consultation and the British Government would ensure that the Good Friday Agreement together with the Common Travel Area is upheld in letter and spirit. How do they plan to do that? We can all attest that the British don’t have a good record of taking Ireland into consideration in anything. 

“When Hilary Benn was asked if there would be bespoke arrangements for the North, he again fudged the question repeating what he had already said. This is just not good enough.

"I understand that the British Government are talking to the Irish Government now to see how this can work, surely this should have been done at earlier stages of the processes given the serious implications the proposal has of undermining tenets of the Good Friday Agreement and the Common Travel Area.”

Cllr Watters described the proposal as ‘ridiculous’ and said, “once again the six counties is an afterthought and will be the collateral damage of British Government policy. The one positive thing about this crazy proposal is that it has united the Political Parties in the North as they are all against it.”

Concluding, Cllr Watters adapted James Connolly’s famous slogan by saying “We serve neither King nor Keir, we are saying no to the Brit card.”