Irish nationalist political party Sinn Fein has called for a referendum to leave the UK “as soon as possible.”
Monday’s call was not the first one for splitting from Britain and uniting with Republic of Ireland.
Sinn Fein has been calling for such a vote since last June, when the UK voted to leave the European Union.
“Brexit will be a disaster for the economy, and a disaster for the people of Ireland. A referendum on Irish unity has to happen as soon as possible,” Sinn Fein’s leader in the Northern Ireland assembly, Michelle O’Neill, told reporters in the capital Belfast.
She made the call for a referendum shortly after Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made a similar request.
O’Neill attacked “the British Tories” in charge of the government, which is preparing to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in order to start formal negotiations for Brexit, following a Monday go-ahead by lawmakers in the House of Commons.
