UK government welcomes Northern Ireland court ruling on Brexit

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government welcomed a ruling by Northern Ireland's High Court on Friday that the law of the province did not restrict the ability of Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger an exit from the European Union. "We welcome the court's judgement this morning and that it agrees we can proceed to trigger Article 50 as planned," May's spokesman said, referring to the Article 50 legal process of exiting the EU. In Northern Ireland, there are fears that Brexit could undermine a 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of bloodshed and lead to the reintroduction of unpopular and cumbersome controls on the border with the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member. "There is no reason to think that the outcome of the referendum will do anything to undermine the rock-solid commitment that the government has to the settlement that was set out in the (1998) Belfast Agreement and to the people of Northern Ireland," the spokesman said. (Reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)