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Jeremy Corbyn
- Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman says the Labour leader was on the record as saying a majority of people on the Island of Ireland wanted re-unification.
- However, he insisted reunification can only come through "consent" and the Good Friday Agreement process.
- Corbyn has been a long-term supporter of Irish reunification
- The Labour leader has previously said that a united Ireland is "an aspiration that I have always gone along with".
LONDON - Jeremy Corbyn has backed the possibility of the return to a united Ireland, with a spokesman saying the majority of people on the island had historically supported re-unification.
With the Labour leader due to visit Northern Ireland for his first time as leader this week, Corbyn's spokesman said on Wednesday that he had always been of the view that a "majority" of people on the island wanted to see it united.
"Over the years he has made his position clear that the majority of the people across the island of Ireland wanted to see that outcome [a united Ireland]" the spokesman said.
However, he said that re-unification could only occur with the "consent" of the Northern Ireland people and through the Good Friday Agreement process.
"He supports the agreement and the process... and that could only be resolved by consent," the spokesman added.
Corbyn has been a long-term supporter of a united Ireland, telling the New Statesman magazine in 2015 that reunification was "an aspiration that I have always gone along with".
A spokesman for Corbyn declined to say whether the Labour leader has changed his support for reunification, when asked by Business Insider.