One of the most
puzzling things about the Referendum campaign has been the support for Brexit
from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party.
Northern Ireland
does extraordinarily well out of the EU with billions from grants under regional
aid, payments to farmers, and special peace grants. Its farmers get 87 per cent
of their incomes from the EU. The UK already subsidises the Province to the tune
of £11bn a year. How much more would it be prepared to stump up to replace the
lost EU funds, especially if it is hit by the expected post-Brexit recession?
And then there is
the border. The Breixters have blithely said it will remain completely open as
it is today, but if the DUP gets its wish and the UK leaves Europe, it will
become the border between the UK and the EU, and the EU may take a different view.
Will they require checkpoints at every crossing when some individual roads
cross the border five times or more?
And finally there
is the union – presumably the most important thing for the DUP. A Leave vote could
well lead to Scotland quitting the UK. How secure would Northern Ireland’s
place be in a truncated union in which Little England sentiment appears to be
getting ever more strident?
As usual, the Leave
camp seem to have plenty of slogans but no policies.
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