Main Unionist party in NI may support SF's border poll idea

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I agree with the DUP in that calls for a border poll won't do any good for community relations. In an intercommunal sense, I can see bad fruit coming from this. Most people in Northern Ireland want to stay in the UK and this includes a very large minority of the people of Catholic background.

I can't see anything good coming from these constant calls and attempts by Sinn Féin to stir the pot, but I'd agree with the idea of the border poll if it put things to rest. I doubt the republican base would take the result well at all though.

Well, apparently the makeup of Northern Ireland has changed significantly, to the point of having more Catholics than Protestants. You really think the pro-unionist Catholic minority could swing it to keep N. Ireland in the Union? I suspect that Sinn Fein are calling for it now in the hopes that the changes will result in the reunification of Ireland...

England could be in a very interesting position in a few years, being once again England and Wales. I wonder how that would affect the England/Wales dynamic?

its a pity nobody is putting forward a case for a referendum on independence. While it may be economically precarious, politically it seems the only long term compromise.

If Northern Ireland can become economically self sufficient it should be discussed.

Ireland is in deep trouble because of the euro, a currency based on the false theories of the extreme right winger Carl Menger, which has led to an austerity programme that shrunk the economy by 20%. Britain, though, has not helped itself through a similar vicious programme though without the excuse of a Mengerian currency and Britain's printing money has offset some of the damage.

Wrong. The percentage of Catholics to Protestants is nearly 1:1, but not quite yet. The 2012 NI census suggest that NI's population is 45% 'Catholic', 48% 'Protestant' (communal background). And opinion polls show that there is a sizeable pro-Union (but not unionist) minority of Catholics in Northern Ireland. A lot of Catholics in NI are not flag-waving Irish nationalists - OK, some might be culturally, but often they would not vote for a UI if it would put the present lifestyle in danger.

If nearly all Protestants and a large minority of Catholics in NI vote for the Union, what outcome will that give?

It's a foregone conclusion.

I'd suggest that well over 70% of people in NI will vote to remain in the UK. Far fewer than that will vote for Unionist parties, though, Catholic or Protestant. Speaking as a mainlander with unionist sympathies, most of the NI Unionist parties are utterly alienating in their policies (either irrelevant or extremist and sometimes both) and it seems that most people in NI agree with me.

A referendum would be almost impossible to conduct fairly as every paramilitary group would get involved.

i agree Sinn Fein are scoring an own goal by demanding a referendum now, they should have waited until at least for the nationalist community to become the majority. If it is defeated it will be a lifetime before they get the political will for another one.

Ulster independence has been brought up in the past. One politician (cannot recall his name) advocated for a dominion-style relationship akin to Canada or Australia with the UK

I completely agree with you.

This idea is not the same as Ulster nationalism. It is independence with good relations with both countries and representative government.

You are talking about the Commonwealth. Commonwealth members have to opt in, there would most likely have to have similar arrangement with Ireland.

Irish republicans will be in a better place to argue for Irish unity after Scotland says 'yes' to independence.

Scotland is a totally different situation. I also don't think they will get the yes. Not in next referendum. Maybe I will eat my words but I doubt it.

This is because only a fraction of those that voted for SNP, will vote yes.

Also there a misconception, as to why Scotland opted for the act of union. It wasn't a violent repression or anything like that. They had tried their hand at colonialism, it wasn't a success they had run out of money.

Being a bit overly optimistic in your wishful thinking aren't you?

I think it's far more likely that the majority of Scots will say 'no' to 'independence'. You'll get perhaps a majority of people in some places voting 'yes', but more people in other areas voting 'no'. I'd say probably 30% of Scots maximum will vote for 'independence' (by which they mean greater EU servitude).

Last edited by Tequila on 22 Jan 2013, 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

They can always take their ball back and fail again at separate nationhood if it makes them happy. As a unionist, I won't stand in their way.

Ireland left the Commonwealth in 1949. Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, remained inside the Commonwealth. Although it's in slightly different circumstances, Hong Kong left the Commonwealth in 1997 when it ceased to be a British dependent territory having been handed over to the Chinese.

There are quite a few republics that are members of the Commonwealth. As long as they have some form of ties with the UK, I can't see it being a problem. (Mozambique, as a former Portuguese colony, was an exception, and I don't think that will be repeated.)

You don't mean Professor Kenny Lindsay, who formed the British Ulster Dominion Party in the 1970s? That idea came from the hardline loyalist camp. A number of ideas came from the loyalist camp in the 1970s and 1980s, one of them being Northern Irish independence.

It's not a bad idea, but almost no-one in Northern Ireland either wants it or seriously considers it as an option. The staunchest advocate of it at the moment is David Kerr, a politician in Northern Ireland who is the head of a tiny national liberal and anti-EU party called Third Way. Before that, was involved with the National Front.