Simply British?

The Good Friday Agreement requires that a border poll be held if the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe that it would result in a majority for a United Ireland. Most obviously, that would be if Nationalist parties received more than half the votes cast at an election in Northern Ireland. That point will be reached in the next five years.

The UUP is trying to sell itself as the party for people who have been to Great Britain and quite liked it, or who have heard about Great Britain and would therefore quite like to go there, as against the DUP as the party for people who have never been to Great Britain, or who have been there and hated it, or who have heard about it and are therefore determined never to go there.

How well each of them had done by comparison with the other will therefore have profound implications for the question that is almost never asked, namely whether the people of Great Britain had any desire to hold on to Northern Ireland.

Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. I am standing for Parliament here at North West Durham. The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.