Margaret Thatcher ruled out joint rule of North with Dublin

Margaret Thatcher said there was “no question” of agreeing to give Dublin joint authority over the running of the North, official files reveal.

The former British prime minister told unionist leaders that the Anglo-Irish Agreement between the British and Irish governments did not threaten UK sovereignty.

Her intervention followed a long-running unionist campaign against the 1985 agreement, which gave the government a consultative role in the North for the first time.