A Northern Irish farmer who appeared in a DUP election broadcast highlighting the benefits of leaving the EU has now said he regrets voting for Brexit.
Co Down dairy farmer Charlie Weir appeared on a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) election broadcast in 2017 before the general election.
In the clip, Mr Weir, who voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum, said the pro-Brexit party 'cared about agriculture and wanted to make agriculture more sustainable'.
DUP leader Arlene Foster then said: “Farmers like Charlie know the opportunities that leaving the European Union will present, as well as acknowledging the challenges.”
However, fast forward two years to present day, the Waringstown-based farmer says he now thinks leaving the bloc with no-deal would 'decimate' Northern Irish farming.
He believes an abrupt exit would lead to a collapse in milk prices and he's now supportive of the backstop as it would be the 'best of both worlds'.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Weir said: “I voted to leave but not knowing the whole story. And now if I was to vote again, I'd vote to remain, personally, from an agricultural point of view.
“Here in Northern Ireland, for example, we receive £300m in CAP funding from Europe and if farmers weren't getting that money they couldn't survive.”
He said farmers 'would be at a loss' without that funding.
Mr Weir went on to say that leaving with no-deal would lead to a drastic fall in milk prices which would 'finish the dairy industry in Northern Ireland'.
“We would be going onto World Trade tariffs and that would reduce our milk price by 30 per cent,” he said.
While Mr Weir is still a supporter of the DUP, he has distanced himself from the party's Brexit line.
A DUP spokesman responded by saying the party does not want to see the UK leave without a deal, but rather a 'sensible and managed' agreement.
