Brexit is the result of an internal argument in the British Conservative Party that everybody in these islands may pay a price for, businessman and Glen Dimplex founder Martin Naughton has said.
"They want the empire back. They want things the way they used to be. They resent Europe, any advice from Europe," he said.
“From a Northern Irish point of view, from an Irish view, from my point of view, there is no argument. We’re just going to be poorer and worse off if we leave, than stay. Everybody.
“I think this is an internal argument in the Conservative Party that we may all have to pay a price for. No matter which way the vote goes this will not go away.” Asked if it was a “little Englanders’ argument”, he replied: “Yes, it is an internal argument.”
Mr Naughton recalled Norway voting against joining the EU in 1994 by a very narrow margin. "But the Norwegian government since then is doing everything it can to be associate members. I think they pay about €1 billion a year to Brussels, and every act that's passed in Brussels is passed immediately into Norwegian law. So they are de facto members."
The difference was that Norway is a small economy. “They were able to negotiate this. But for Britain, which is a reasonably big country and a very important member of the union, for them it will mean immediate renegotiation, area by area, relationships. Category by category.
"So agricultural products will have to be renegotiated, and the French could say we really don't want any beef from outside the EU or whatever. Number one of the agenda will be the City of London, financial services, what arrangements can they make vis-a-vis the city. There will be priorities."
Serious situation
Speaking to journalist Eamonn Mallie in an interview being broadcast tonight on internet channel Irish TV (irishtv.ie), Mr Naughton also felt Brexit would be “a serious situation for us [in the Republic]”.
"Britain is our biggest trading partner . . . Ireland buys more from Britain than India, Russia, China, Brazil combined. We're a major trading partner and there'll be significant problems."
He says that if the UK votes to leave the EU, Border controls are inevitable in Ireland.
"If you take the volume of trade that there is at the moment where you have all the big departmental stores in the Republic of Ireland like Tescos, and Aldis and Currys, and all these people who load up trucks every day in Milton Keynes and ship them and deliver them all over Ireland, that just can't go on. There'll have to be a Border or some controls there. It's inevitable." Border Stories with Eamonn Mallie will be broadcast tonight at 9pm on Irish TV.
