“I raised the concerns of young people from Northern Ireland in the House of Lords in April about the fact that the intervention of the EU in the UK through the Windsor Framework Irish Sea border means that they have been denied the rights enjoyed by their parents until 2021 to stand for election to make all the laws to which they are subject.
They had a letter published in the Daily Telegraph setting out their grievance and it was very encouraging to see young people from the rest of the UK rallying to their defence.
In August I then led a delegation of young people to meet the Government Minister, Baroness Anderson to talk about the EU’s attack on our democracy in which they very eloquently set out their distress at having a second class citizenship foisted upon them.
Rather than being a champion of democracy, the EU has become one of the biggest instigators of disenfranchisement in the modern world today, not just in relation to young people but all UK citizens living in Northern Ireland.
In this context I would have expected them to keep a very low profile on International Democracy Day last week.
I was, therefore, flabbergasted that they not only associated themselves with the Day but pretended to be one of the greatest champions of democracy.
The world needs to wake up and see past their dishonest rhetoric to the grave injustice that they are prosecuting.
I noticed that on the day the Commissioner for Enlargement said. “The Union grows stronger with every accession—but only if new members fully uphold democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law as non-negotiable EU values.”
It would seem that any state that has the temerity to leave the EU is to be subject to the reverse, and punished by having the integrity of its democratic traditions placed in jeopardy by the terms of its departure.
The truth is that the behaviour of the EU in this regard is very high risk.
The way they are treating the UK through Northern Ireland is quite unnecessary and places their standing in the world in jeopardy.
The Irish Sea Border must be removed so that the whole United Kingdom is once again fully enfranchised. While this is an attack particularly on UK citizens in NI, make no mistake this is an attack on the ‘integrity’ of the United Kingdom as a whole in every sense of the word.
No self-respecting country with a future can afford to allow itself to be treated in this way.
We must come together and not allow the EU to divide and undermine us.”
- Baroness Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin, 22 Sept 2025