UK PM promises ‘practical’ Irish border solution

LONDON (AA) – U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has promised a “practical solution” to the future of Ireland’s land border following the British decision to exit the European Union.

May said an open frontier between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland had existed long before the European Union and many wanted it to continue.

She was speaking during her first visit to Northern Ireland – which is part of the U.K. – since becoming prime minister earlier this month.

Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU in last month’s referendum, but will be exiting the bloc because people elsewhere in the U.K. voted in larger numbers to leave.

Many fear Brexit will mean that tens of thousands of people, who travel across the Irish land border to work and study every day, could be subjected to passport checks.

The vast trading relationship between Britain and Ireland, worth €1 billion ($1.31 billion) per week according to Ireland’s Department for Foreign Affairs, could also be affected.

Speaking after meeting Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, May said: “We've had constructive talks about the will that we all have to find a way through this which is in the best interests of Northern Ireland and the best interest of the United Kingdom as a whole.”

“Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past,” she added.

“What we do want to do is to find a way through this that is going to work and deliver a practical solution for everybody – as part of the work that we are doing to ensure that we make a success of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union – and that we come out of this with a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom,” she said.