Reunification of Ireland and the future status of Scotland are issues “definitely on the table” as a result of Brexit, the former head of the UK Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service has said. Simon Fraser, chief policy adviser to two British foreign secretaries, William Hague and Philip Hammond, said a decision to pull out of the EU complicates the union of Britain and Northern Ireland. “Brexit does complicate, in my view, the future status of both Scotland and Northern Ireland, if you look at it from the British aspect,” he said. “I think these questions are definitely on the table in terms of the future of our union.”In relation to the North“that does raise the question of the future of Northern Ireland in its relationship with the Republic”, he added. Member states of the EU have their trade negotiations done by the European Commission, he pointed out.

Source: The Irish Times February 11, 2020 13:07 UTC