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Five years ago it was indisputably the Brexit election, but this time it has become something of an elephant in the room.

But in Northern Ireland, neither party leader is shy about talking about the impact of Britain leaving the EU.

Our senior Ireland correspondent David Blevins spoke to everyone about the legacy of the 2016 referendum – and how a new government in Westminster could turn things around.

As David notes, in order to “finish Brexit”, the Conservative government put a trade border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the UK – something that was once unthinkable.

Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Fein:

“I think there is an opportunity now with what may look like a Labor government coming into play to reverse the damage of Brexit.

“And in fact I would hope we get to the point where we actually reverse the Brexit decision altogether.

“It may not be where Labor is going, but I think there is an opportunity to reset the relationship, critically between London and Dublin, because it has been very fractured.”

Emma Little-Pengelly, DUP:

“The Conservative Party and the UK government got Brexit wrong and Northern Ireland was the victim of that.

“We have called the Conservative Party on this at every stage.

“We have had to fight incredibly hard to try and repair the damage done by the decisions made by the ruling Conservative Party.

“But of course I fought for it while others were agitating and pushing for the rigorous implementation of this really bad deal.”

Naomi Long, Alliance:

“What we need to look forward to doing is saying … how do we make the benefits of the Windsor Framework work to our advantage?

“We have a unique position in Northern Ireland in terms of trade: we can trade freely in the UK, we can trade freely with the Republic of Ireland, but more than that, we have a foot in the European Union.”

Colum Eastwood, SDLP:

“Brexit has been a disaster for the whole of Britain, I would argue, economically and in many other ways, but I felt it much more here because we share a border with the European Union.

“We’ve had to do a lot of work to put things back together after the mess made by Brexit, Boris Johnson and the DUP.

“From our perspective, there is no better outcome than being back in the European Union, stock and barrel.”

Doug Beattie, UUP:

“Brexit was a defining moment.

“It absolutely undermined the cohesion of the UK and I think we can see it working even today.

“And whatever government comes in – and we all think it will be a Labor government – I think they will have to work on that cohesion as one of their key deliverables.”