Green Party leaders from across the British Isles will sign a landmark document committing them to join forces to campaign for a swift re-entry into the European Union. Below is the full text of the agreement.
LEAVING the European Union will have damaging consequences for Scotland, the United Kingdom as a whole and on the island of Ireland.
Its impact will be profound, economically, culturally, politically and environmentally and we believe the arguments made by those campaigning to remain are more relevant now than during the referendum itself.
READ MORE: 'Ulster is a powder keg which Brexit may ignite’
The EU has brought more than 70 years of peace to a continent scarred by centuries of war. The UK enjoys stronger workers’ rights and better environmental protection through our membership of the European Union and we believe that these standards are at clear risk from withdrawal.
We recognise that Scotland and Northern Ireland did not vote to leave, yet the UK Government continues to deny the devolved administrations, parliament and assemblies any meaningful input in the Brexit negotiations and continues to rule out bespoke deals which better reflect the democratic wishes of the nations or which meet their clearly unique needs.
In England and Wales, and the UK as a whole, where the vote was narrowly lost by Remain, the UK Government has declared a mandate, which they do not have, to also leave the single market and customs union, showing the contrary promises made by Leave campaigners to be as empty as many suspected.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones write to Lords over Brexit
The UK Government’s inability to propose solutions which prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland is a cause of grave concern. Shared European institutions and arrangements are key to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and no amount of rhetorical commitment from the UK Government can negate the result of their stated negotiating position on the customs union in particular; a hardening of the Irish border and undermining of the peace process.
We will continue to work in solidarity with our European neighbours to build a more just, sustainable and Greener Europe and commit that if we are indeed taken out of the European Union, we will immediately begin, with the support of our European Green family, the campaign for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to re-join.
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