I noticed this Tweet yesterday.
I cannot embed the Tweet here. Follow the link to listen to it.
I also did not watch the original programme from which it is taken, so I am not sure whether there is more information to contextualise what was said, but the clip is long enough to be sure of Micelle O'Neill's message. She wants a Northern Ireland border poll by 2030. The right to hold one is provided for in the Good Friday Agreement. I am sure the timing is deliberate: she knows that the Catholic majority in Northern Ireland is growing by the year. She and Sinn Féin know they have the power to deliver this deal now.
Does this mean we should assume the Union is over? I think so.
And once Northern Ireland decides to leave the Union, the constitutional grounds for objecting to polls in Scotland and Wales will likewise fall away.
It's time to think about another country. Or rather, other countries. The UK is going to be over.
The question is, then what?
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It certainly looks like we could be seeing the end of the Union and precisely no reaction from Westminster.
An indication of the inadequacy of our politics and political class
I anticipate several more years of belligerent screaming from Westminster governments of all prospective governing parties. No prime minister wants to be the one that “lost” Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland, and that egotism will continue to drive their policies toward the devolved nations. The time may come when each nation has to peacefully take matters into their own hands.
What worries me, given the treatment of the Palestinian protesters, there is a precedent for suppression add the incompetence of the Westminster parties and any attempt at suppression in Northern Ireland and Scotland could lead a small minority to violence.
I think that England could very well end up becoming like Monaco or some other ‘tax efficient’ state? It might centre on London (or what is left of the City – and I mean the old institution and Lord Mayor set up there that remains very powerful and inscrutable). It could be the south east up to say Luton or even lower. As it unravels it will be mess – it already is – they’ll be parts of the coast line being lost to the sea on the Eastern seaboard, some losses too on the West, infrastructure everywhere is in decline. Maybe those of us living in north west Derbyshire, we might want Scotland or Wales to come along and rope us in, as long as we are not being ruled by the greedy short sighted swine in London who have shrugged off the rest of the country anyway as not their concern?
For me, nothing has changed since Tory rule from 2010. We are still in a grip of some sort of ‘Khmer Blue’ regime wanting to take us back to year zero (BSS – Before Social Security), where the landed gentry ruled the country but this time we will be Godless because they’ll be none of that to keep the rich in check (their god is money and that means power). Feudal rights will centre on keeping your trap shut.
The more I think about what Cameron and Osbourne did from 2010, after a private sector induced crash, the more angry I get and the more I want revenge. It’s not nice, but that’s what I feel, for sure.
Cameron, Osborne and Clegg. Never forget the LibDems.
Agree always thought Ireland would go first, for a start they have a process.
It would be a lot faster if the Republic were not in a neoliberal mess too. Housing is a disgrace, a completely solvable problem trapped by vested interests.
Countries taken by force cannot be a true union. See the amazing petition of ordinary Scots 300+ years ago. A forced marriage.
Agreed
The power to hold a border poll within the Good Friday Agreement, lies with the UK Secretary of State. I think that unless there is pressure from the Eire Government, the UK will always, as they do with Scotland, declare that “now is not the time”.
Oh come on, this is an international agreement, with US support. The UK is not able to make this decision alone.