Ah… Brexit. Bringing (Irish) people together.

Unintended consequence, but according to this piece – based on relatively anecdotal evidence it has to be noted, there’s some shift in attitudes amongst those in the North who otherwise might be small ‘u’ unionist. A sense, perhaps, of where the focus of British politics actually is (clue: not on NI). That others aren’t convinced about a border poll, or shifted from their unionism doesn’t actually contradict that. What is clear is a sense of an attachment to the status quo ante of EU membership, GFA/BA structures and steady as it goes. Indeed I think there’s a little bit of jumping ahead in relation to UI tied to the Brexit result. That’s not a tenable future just yet.

Mind you, I’m not sure the most recent calls for a special status within the EU but also within the UK for NI is going to fly either. It strikes me that whatever about other British governments this one isn’t going to accept any diminution of its sovereignty in that regard.

Just on that the report from the House of Lords EU committee dealing with British Irish relations is sobering. Speaker after speaker from various backgrounds spoke of the negative impacts of Brexit on the North. That tells us something.

As does the fact that polling in the RoI and in NI points to pretty much overwhelming support for the EU outside of a tranche of unionists, and even amongst unionism in general some strong pro-EU sentiment, it does provide a signpost, and perhaps some cautionary data as regards those who would think a different path might be profitable.

None of which is to argue for unthinking and uncritical approaches to the EU, but… as has long been argued here, it’s one thing to argue for the replacement of an absolutely flawed EU by something better, a laudable aim and one which would merit serious effort, including the establishment of parallel shadow structures even in outline form – another thing entirely to argue that it should be exited with no alternative vehicle or structures in place.