Well, Brexit really is having an impact.

After the historic local election results in N.Ireland yesterday, it seems like the days are numbered for the United Kingdom.
It goes without saying that the SNP want Scotland to gain independence. However, the seismic shift in voting in N. Ireland point to a likely push for a United Ireland at some point in the not too distant future.
Sinn Fein gaining a majority, for the first time is quite increddible.
Not so long ago, they were seen as the political wing of The IRA and yet, here they are on the cusp of running N .Ireland.

History will show what an abomination "taking back control" actually was.

The unionist collective vote was hugely greater than SF. But that doesn’t support your anti Brexit ideology does it?

Quote: wire-quin "The unionist collective vote was hugely greater than SF. But that doesn’t support your anti Brexit ideology does it?'" Yet, still Sinn Fein have the majority of seats Simple question, do you think that Sinn Fein WILL push for a vote on unification and, is this MORE or LESS likely following the debacle regarding N. Ireland and Brexit.? As for anti Brexit, I would rather call it Pro European Interestingly, you steered clear of the Scottish part of this and we perhaps should talk about Johnsons promises to the Unionists, which disappeared, the very moment he didn't need their votes to sure up the Troy majority in the Commons. Remember "No Irish Sea" border. Johnson helped oust Teresa May on this issue and then implemented the vey border that he PROMISED would not happen: https://inews.co.uk/news/brexit/brexit- ... tin-579112: /www.lbc.co.uk/politics/elections/general-election-2019/boris-johnson-says-absolutely-no-border-down-the-i/ oops:

Quote: wire-quin "The unionist collective vote was hugely greater than SF. But that doesn’t support your anti Brexit ideology does it?'" Yet, still Sinn Fein have the majority of seats Simple question, do you think that Sinn Fein WILL push for a vote on unification and, is this MORE or LESS likely following the debacle regarding N. Ireland and Brexit.? As for anti Brexit, I would rather call it Pro European Interestingly, you steered clear of the Scottish part of this and we perhaps should talk about Johnsons promises to the Unionists, which disappeared, the very moment he didn't need their votes to sure up the Troy majority in the Commons. Remember "No Irish Sea" border. Johnson helped oust Teresa May on this issue and then implemented the vey border that he PROMISED would not happen: https://inews.co.uk/news/brexit/brexit- ... tin-579112: /www.lbc.co.uk/politics/elections/general-election-2019/boris-johnson-says-absolutely-no-border-down-the-i/ oops:

Sinn Fein have a plurality but not a majority.

One of the great tragedies of this, beyond the destruction of the United Kingdom at the hands of the incompetent and corrupt Tory party, is that the loss of Scotland and, maybe down the track, Northern Ireland, dooms those of us left in England and Wales to almost perpetual Tory rule until enough of the permanently angry, red-faced types who voted leave and are engaged in their never-ending culture war die off and we can return to serious politics and serious policies again.

Apologies WQ, I should of course put, largest number of seats, not majority
The rest of the post still holds.

Johnson, Gove & Co still haven't found a solution to the Brexit protocol, despite their deal being "oven ready" and it does appear that its just a matter of when and not if a unification referendum will take place.
Granted it wont be in the immediate future but, it looks absolutely nailed on.

As for anti Brexit ideology, nice one !, it's more about keeping the multiple promises made by Johnson & Farage to the fore.

A sensible solution for Ireland was never properly addressed either before, during or, after the referendum. N.Ireland was chucked under the Brexit bus and will be seen as collateral damage. There are plenty of other issues still unresolved but, hey, in Johnson "we" trust - there's a scary line.

This is true and the Unionist was split among the DUP, UUP and TUV… in some part owing to Brexit. Together they got 40.1% of the vote and 35 seats.

The combined Republican (Sinn Fein) and Nationalist (SDLP) vote was 38.1% and between them they also won 35 seats.

The most striking result in terms of seats gained was the non-sectarian Alliance party going from 8 to 17. Their share of the vote didn’t increase as much, but it is nice to see some movement away from the polarisation afflicting much of UK politics.

More votes cast for anti Brexit than pro Brexit parties in NI

Since Starmer offered to resign, if found guilty by Durham police, WQ seem to have lost his on line tongue.

I see what you did there, deflected away from the post.

Any thoughts on the unionists vote being a greater proportion of the vote overall or the fact the nationalist vote was down on numbers?

You will notice that I apologised for suggesting that Sinn Fein only had the highest number of seats, as opposed to an overall majority.
However, the point still stands and Brexit along with our impotent government (in relation to all matters N .Ireland), will very likely lead to a Unification vote.

The issue here, just as it was when the Breixt deal was agreed, is that NOBODY offered a workable solution for N. Ireland.
The constraints of the GFA, in not allowing checks on the island of Ireland made and simple solution impossible but, once Bojo achieved his parliamentary majority and no longer needed the support of the DUP, he simply cast them aside and with it, promises that he had made to the people of N .Ireland.

Breaking promises has been a feature of his Premiership but, the mess is still there and the protocol, which was agreed and signed off by our Prime Minister is still not able to be fully applied and looks like it never will be. Instead, he would rather renege on the deal that HE signed and "hope that things work out".

The result of this is that the former political wing of the IRA are getting ever closer to running part on the UK.

They may not have an overall majority (yet) but, it's certainly closer than at any point in the last century.

If I'd known that this would be a consequence of Brexit I'd have voted to leave too but, unlike the Brexiteers, I didn't know what was on the table. This is a nice side-effect of the sh0w that it has become. Silver linings and all that!

That's an interesting take on the effects of "leave" "winging it".
However, it has to be up to the people of N .Ireland to choose their future and although a United Ireland may seem like a "good outcome", Unification would bring a whole new set of problems for the people in the North, especially the Unionists.
The irony, that they held the balance of power, for a short while and then ended up getting right royally shafted is quite unbelievable and the promises that Johnson made to them, which now seem to have disappeared into the ether have become juts another small pile in his (Johnson's) litany of lies and broken promises, which could come back and bite him at the next General Election.

The south cant afford to bring the North onboard. It just won't happen.

That was the case in the past but not so much nowadays.

If there's a referendum and a majority vote in favour to re-unite Ireland, the US and EU will make sure it happens.

The South won't allow a referendum to happen, and if it was to happen it wouldn't get over the line. Don't let your fertile imagination run away with itself.