Scotland and Northern Ireland didn’t vote for Brexit, didn’t embrace this week’s Conservative electoral landslide -- and now may be drifting permanently away from London. During Britain’s 2016 referendum on EU membership, England and much smaller Wales voted to leave bloc; Scotland and Ireland didn’t. For the first time this week, Northern Ireland elected more lawmakers who favor union with Ireland than want to remain part of the U.K. Any customs checks or other obstacles along the currently invisible frontier between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland would undermine both the local economy and Northern Ireland’s peace process. “That will increase the tendency toward a united Ireland for political reasons, too.

Source: ABC News December 14, 2019 14:32 UTC