British prime minister Tony Blair said today there was no place in the modern world for a return to unionist supremacy in Northern Ireland.
Mr Blair’s comments came in his speech to the Labour party conference in Brighton. Mr Blair's speech touched upon a great number of the world’s troubles from the terrorist attacks against America to the terrible state of Africa ("a scar on the conscience of the world"), environmental degradation, globalisation and nuclear proliferation.
Mr Blair said: "There will be no unification of Ireland except by consent - and there will be no return to the days of unionist or Protestant supremacy because those days have no place in the modern world."
Mr Blair said unionists must accept justice and equality for nationalists.
"The republicans must show they have given up violence - not just a ceasefire but weapons put beyond use. And not only the republicans, but those people who call themselves loyalists, but who by acts of terrorism, sully the name of the United Kingdom," Mr Blair said.