EX-U.K. PM John Major Sees ‘Breathtaking Ignorance’ Around Brexit

(Bloomberg) -- Former U.K. Prime Minister John Major said some unionists have “shown a breathtaking ignorance of the likely impact of unsettling” Northern Ireland’s peace deal through Brexit.

“Those who mock and disparage the backstop should reflect on the risks of destroying it and stop relying on uninvented fanciful alternatives that for now exist absolutely nowhere,” he said in a speech in Longford in the Irish midlands on Monday.

“At stake is not only community relations but security and with it lives as well. We should never forget that the Troubles began in the 1960s with the murder of customs officials at the north south border,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Flanagan in Dublin at pflanagan23@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vidya Root at vroot@bloomberg.net, Dara Doyle

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