Brexit, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Comparing Political Dynamics and Prospects in the Two ‘Remain’ Areas

The Scottish Centre on European Relations (SCER) was launched in March 2017 as a new, independent and unaligned Scottish EU think tank.

SCER) aimed to inform, debate, and provide up-to-the-minute, high-quality research and analysis of European Union developments and challenges. It would focus on pan-EU issues as well as having a particular focus on Scotland’s EU interests and policies.

SCER would provide in-depth, impartial research and analysis on Brexit – looking at EU27, UK and Scottish interests and debates. SCER would also carry out up-to-the minute policy research on a range of key European Union issues including the future of the EU at a time of multiple challenges; the migration and refugee crisis, and the EU’s turbulent neighbourhood.The two remain-voting areas of the United Kingdom faced being hard-hit by Brexit. Brexit fears were different in several respects in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most obviously, the peace process, the operation of the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement, and the future of the Irish border were existential issues for Northern Ireland; there was no equivalent set of concerns in Scotland.

But there were some important similarities between the two remain-voting areas. These centred on the impact so far of Brexit on political divisions in both, economic and social consequences (including questions around EU citizenship), and tensions between Westminster and the devolved regions and nations.

• Primary Source

SCER: Comment, 24.04.18: Deepening Political Divisions and Exacerbating Peripherality: Scotland, Northern Ireland and Brexit https://www.scer.scot/database/ident-6316

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

---