STORY
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he believes Ireland will eventually be united, although he warned that any change would require a lengthy process based upon agreement. Brown made the comments while discussing the future of the United Kingdom and the constitutional differences between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Brown, who remains a firm opponent of Scottish independence, argued that Scotland was geographically, economically, socially and culturally connected to the rest of the UK. Asked whether Northern Ireland’s geographical relationship with the Republic made unification more likely, he said that Ireland would be united in the long term but stressed that people would have to come together and agree upon the process.
The former Labour leader was Chancellor when the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998 and Prime Minister when policing and justice powers were devolved to Northern Ireland in 2010. Elsewhere in the interview, Brown supported a gradual transition away from North Sea oil and gas, arguing that existing infrastructure and skills should be retained to support wind power, hydrogen and carbon capture.