LAURA HUGHES: We've come to Northern Ireland

to look at the impacts of Brexit and the upcoming

general election on the region.

Behind me is the Peace Wall, a symbol of the troubles

that this part of the UK has faced for years.

Well be talking to those fighting

on both sides of the debate to see what's at stake,

and what it means for the future of Northern Ireland.

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Before 2017, the DUP were a relatively unknown force

in British politics.

But all that changed when Theresa May came back

from a general election without a majority.

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The DUP's 10 members of parliament

gave the conservatives the majority

that they needed to stay in power,

through a Confidence and Supply Agreement that

guaranteed this region of the UK one billion pounds.

But Brexit made that relationship

increasingly difficult over the last two years.

And the party voted down Theresa May's Brexit deal

on three separate occasions.

Then Boris Johnson came in, and he did a deal

that Mrs may wouldn't have dared to do.

It involved putting a trade barrier

down the Irish Sea, something that

is unacceptable to the DUP, who have consistently

argued that Northern Ireland should leave the European

Union on exactly the same terms as the rest of the UK.

It was the DUP's vote that made a real difference

when Boris Johnson put his deal to the House of Commons.

It failed, meaning that there was

no other course of action to take

but to call a general election.

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JEFFREY DONALDSON: So this is back in the early 1990s--

mid 1990s, meeting Bill Clinton when he became interested

in the peace process.

This was our first meeting with Tony Blair when he was leader--

became leader of the opposition before the '97 general

election.

I was elected in '97.

Here's the challenge.

If the economy is harmed by Boris Johnson's deal,

that's going to undermine political progress

in Northern Ireland.

It is going to undermine political stability.

And I think the prime minister should sit back and take note

that none of the main parties in Northern Ireland

support his deal.

Is that really what he wants to impose

on Northern Ireland, a trade border in the Irish Sea, when

he said there wouldn't be one.

When he said no conservative prime minister

could agree to a border in the Irish Sea.

And yet, his deal does precisely that.

LAURA HUGHES: Is he risking the Union?

JEFFREY DONALDSON: Well, he's certainly

risking political stability in Northern Ireland.

And I think this does harm the Union.

Anything that creates a separation between Northern

Ireland and Great Britain has, I think, the potential

to undermine the integrity of the Union.

And it's not just Northern Ireland.

I think if the prime minister proceeds on this basis,

it will probably enhance the calls

in Scotland for a referendum there.

The SMP are going to, I think, latch

onto this deal as an excuse for having a referendum.

So the prime minister needs to be very careful.

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LAURA HUGHES: For the smaller parties

in Northern Ireland, the nationalist ones and also

the pro-Europeans, this election is a chance

to get rid of the DUP.

And across the region, we've seen an informal alliance

spring up between the SDLP, Sinn Fein, and the Greens

to stand against the DUP and try and get rid

of a couple of their members of parliament.

Northern Ireland actually voted to stay in the EU,

and nationalist groups here argue

that the DUP haven't represented the best

interests of the region.

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The Brexit deal on offer has fueled

nationalist parties calls for a reunification poll in Ireland.

I'm about to talk to a veteran Sinn Fein politician who

was interred by the British government

twice during the years of the troubles.

ALEX MASKEY: This was 1981.

Kieran Doherty was a personal friend of mine.

Was in prison with him myself, interred.

This was a firing party, just before he was then taken down

onto the [INAUDIBLE].

[INAUDIBLE] and, if you like, the militant republicanism

were never comfortable bedfellows.

So that was a major choice to be taken by Republicans,

on the back of the hunger strikes, to say,

well, we're going to develop an electoral strategy.

Our politics has been polluted, if you like, because of Brexit.

For us here in the north of Ireland, the majority of people

here voted to remain.

That means a majority of nationalists and unionists

voted to remain within the EU.

This has forced people from the unionist community

to be pondering, where are their future interests best served?

Is it in the union with Europe, or the union with Britain?

LAURA HUGHES: Do you think also that Brexit

has made a reunification poll more likely?

ALEX MASKEY: Well, I think it has sharpened

the focus of a lot of people's mind,

in terms of what the future lies.

The last number of years here, certainly sounds Good Friday,

has meant there's been a number of changes

in the mindset of a lot of people here.

Because clearly, when you have a peace process,

you have more or less, and certainly not exclusively,

an end to violence on the streets

and the British military presence, and so on.

When much of that has been very significantly reduced

thankfully, then people started, and been

able to have a way to raise [INAUDIBLE] and their politics.

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LAURA HUGHES: But Brexit that isn't the only thing

on voters' minds as they head into this general election.

The storm in Assembly, Northern Ireland's regional government,

has been suspended since January 2017,

after a dispute between Sinn Fein and the DUP.

How has Brexit impacted this election?

ADRIAN GUELKE: Well, in a curious way,

less than you would think, simply

because everybody's agreed that this is a horrible deal.

So what's the argument about?

The paradox is, if people elect the Sinn Fein MP,

there actually is one less vote against the deal

in the cut of work.

So it's an odd situation.

So there are other issues that are quite important as well,

for Northern Ireland electors, which is the fact that we've

had no government since January 2017, which is a long time

to go without a government.

So there are other questions that

will influence how people vote, other than Brexit.

And there is, I think, also sort of fatalistic attitude

amongst people in Northern Ireland

that Brexit is nothing they can do anything about.

And that fatalism has grown with the sense

that the English are not paying any attention whatsoever

to opinions in Northern Ireland about this any longer.

LAURA HUGHES: No major political party here

supports the prime minister's Brexit deal in this election.

It's a deal that could have huge ramifications

for the future of the Union and Northern Ireland.

But if Boris Johnson returns to the House of Commons this month

with a majority, there's a question

over who's going to be listening to them.

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