Brexit Impact on Northern Ireland

It is interesting to watch The House Of Paisley on the BBC and compare the young Peter Robinson to some of the Unionist commentators today. The absolute religiously motivated hatred of the EU - den of Papish iniquity and a Vatican plot - that was at the heart of DUP policy was strong in the early years, led by Ian himself as an MEP.

Interesting also to see the revulsion from what was then moderate Unionism in the reactions to DUP bile and hate, especially from Terence O'Neill, Brian Faulkner and even Jim Molyneaux. Sadly the rise of the DUP silenced moderate Unionism and left them in a vote freefall quandry. They went silent for fear of being wiped out altogether.

There is much in Jamie Bryson of the early Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson. The hate of the EU, Taigs and having to powershare is all there alive and kicking. But sadly for Jamie and his ilk (not everyone else) the genie is out of the lamp, the right to equality has been achieved, and nobody is going back to the bad old days of Unionist belligerence and the Unionist Veto. Try as he and the DUP might, they have not been able to muster the rallies and street protest of the Anglo Irish Agreement days.

I think Doug Beattie senses the opportunity for a resurgance in moderate Unionism. Might take a while, but he might be right. There is no win for belligerence on the cards. The HoC, HoL and Supreme Courts have made that clear. The DUP's and Paisley/Robinson's antics may have been a feelgood suprematist buzz, but ultimately it brought about what they most feared.

Third part is on tonight. Well worth a watch.

I'd imagine the difference between the strongly and slightly Nationalist position is more likely tied to a perception that a functioning NI Protocol/WF makes NI stronger economically, and that presents difficulties in arguing for Unification which many value over everything else.

I don't get the logic, Francie.

Why would, 'no protocol was necessary at all' be a differentiating factor between those leaning slightly and those who are strongly Nationalist?

If Nationalism is behind any mitigation of a hard Brexit, one would expect support for the WF to increase with stronger Nationalism rather than slightly decrease?

The DUP is fishing for votes in 23% of the electorate

The poll also indicated that 23% of respondents will only vote for candidates in the next Assembly election who are favour of scrapping the protocol and/or the Windsor Framework.

Hadn't realised or remembered that Jim was Paisley Jun's campaign/manager until the doc on Paisley.

He quit the DUP for the second time I think over powersharing with SF. 25 years after the GFA he still can't bring himself to accept the idea of powersharing or Dublin having a say.

Of course he would have people live in penury if it meant a hard border, but please keep sending the EU pension to Antrim.

Regarding EU directives that have become law in Northern Ireland since Brexit, does the Windsor Framework not provide a means for the NI Assembly to review and amend those directives. It leads me to raise the wider issue of whether there is any oversight of directives that are issued by the European Commission (EC). It appears that citizens of EU member states, never mind the people of NI, have no say in the creation and implementation of those directives. It seems that the EC can do pretty much whatever it wants - how is that acceptable in a democratic society?!

But what oversight is there over EC decision-making?

Yes exactly. Whether we agree that the WF is SB or BS, you are correct that sf will have concerns about anything that makes ni even more successful as that eats away at the Ui vote.

Political parties evolve all the time.

FF and FG were once strenously against gay rights and same sex marraige...now, very pro both.

The Tories were once very pro EU, became very anti and are now evolving back to something else - still unclear what.

Why would you expect SF not to evolve similarly?

By the way, they were well on the way to embracing the EU long before the UK decided to self harm. This is from their 2004 manifesto, long before 2016 and when the UK was very much in it.

Another fail and another manipulation of the actual facts from you Francis.

EU04 Election Manifesto (michaelpidgeon.com)

They were committed to the EU WHILE the UK were in it. Therefore they didn't change anything when the UK left. It's there in black and white and in the factual world.