Irish unification referendums; border poll

UK breakup. The vacuum where the Union case should be stands exposed

Brian Walker on January 24, 2021, 12:07 pm | Readers 3641

Will the drum roll start for a border poll and wreck the prospects for even slim collaboration for dealing with the massive and more immediate challenges of Covid and Brexit – and just governing ? Or will it promote a virtuous competition between the DUP and Sinn Fein over which of them will be the better collaborator in government, with the hope of wooing the uncommitted to their existential cause? Will the minor parties get squeezed or flourish amid growing …

Perhaps London will wake up at last- and also let us in on how the Northern Ireland Secretary would exercise his discretion on calling a border poll

Brian Walker on January 23, 2021, 10:26 pm | Readers 4597

From the Times. Not a lot of extra comment is needed. By these measurements the narrowing margins should concentrate minds. Most concentration is inevitably focused on Scotland where Westminster has the constitutional veto absent in relation to Northern Ireland , where the Northern Ireland Secretary has the discretion to call a referendum which the Republic is obliged to follow concurrently. Here the interim report by academics in London, Belfast and Dublin on preparing for twin Irish referendums is well worth …