Withdrawal of RAF in NI a major blow
24 April 2008
STATEMENT BY TRADITIONAL UNIONIST MEP JIM ALLISTER
"The withdrawal of the RAF from NI is not just a huge economic blow but also a massive political blow. For all the denials, it smacks of delivery of a further instalment of the disengagement by British services from Ulster. Just as "demilitarisation" was promised to IRA/Sinn Fein, no one should be surprised if the end of the RAF in the Province was also on the republican shopping list. I remind people that there were several side letters at and after St Andrews to individual parties which HMG has still refused to reveal under FOI, because it could "destabilise" the Executive. I strongly suspect this announcement today is further delivery to Sinn Fein."
