Northern Ireland lawmaker slams Joe Biden’s remarks on the country

US President Joe Biden has drawn criticism from a lawmaker of Northern Ireland's biggest pro-UK party on Thursday (May 11) over his contentious remarks. Biden has said that the purpose of his trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland was "to make sure... the Brits didn't screw around" with peace in Northern Ireland and "didn't walk away from their commitments".

The comments, relayed in a White House transcript, came as Biden addressed a Democratic party gathering in New York on Wednesday.

"If you believe that there should be a special relationship between the US and UK then at least show us some respect," said Sammy Wilson, Northern Irish lawmaker from the country's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He was quoted by London's Evening Standard newspaper.

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"It's unbelievable and frightening as well to think this is the man who is the leader of the free world," he added.

The DUP is a pro-UK party and wants Northern Ireland part of the UK. It is currently boycotting the region's power-sharing government over strong disagreements on post-Brexit trade.

A renegotiation of the trade protocol by the EU and UK -- labelled the Windsor Framework -- was largely aimed at remedying unionist concerns that it put Northern Ireland's position in the UK under threat.But the deal has so far been spurned by the DUP.

UK PM Rishi Sunak's spokesperson, when asked about Biden's remarks, said that the framework is "a culmination of substantive work between the UK and the EU".

"And at its heart the UK priority was always protecting the Good Friday Agreement," he told reporters.

Under Sunak's predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, the UK's hardline tactics with the EU had drawn warnings from Washington that peace in Northern Ireland could be undermined.

Biden's words found backing from Mary Lou McDonald, president of the Sinn Fein party which wants Irish reunification.

The US position has consistently been "to oppose very vigorously anything that would threaten to undermine either the peace or the Good Friday Agreement", she said.

"So I think President Biden in his own way is simply reiterating a position which has been very clear for a long time."

(With inputs from agencies)

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