Why did Scotland and Northern Ireland vote to remain?

[thelurkinghorror]

@dropzone

Forgive a clueless Yank, but aren’t Scotland and NI countries that happen to be part of GB? Why are they treated as American states, not proper countries?

Scotland is in GB but NI isn’t as it’s on a different island. Both are part of the UK.

@Ibn_Warraq

Huh? I thought the DUP was the leading Unionist Party?

Either way, I can’t imagine any Protestants agreeing to Sinn Fein’s recent call for “reunification” with Ireland.

DUP is the biggest party, but by “mainstream” I mean “not batshit insane.” The longtime largest party, who has since been relegated to #3 or #4, is the Ulster Unionist Party who didn’t support Brexit.

[UDS]

@coremelt

For movement of people yes maybe, but for movement of goods, nope, not possible. Ireland is going to have to put border controls and customs at the NI border. Because otherwise UK companies could just ship goods for sale into NI, then cross into Ireland, then it’s in the EU zone so can be sold without tariffs. The EU is not going to allow that to happen so customs must be implemented at the NI / ROI border. Irish government has already said this:
Leaving EU 'will mean return of border posts' in Ireland, warns Lawson | BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

That’s going to be devastating for the NI economy.

And not great for the RoI economy either.

I agree with your analysis that the EU will require border controls in Ireland (unless the UK negotiates participation in the single market, which looks tricky). But I’d add to it that the UK will require border controls if they wish to “regain control of immigration”, which I think is one of the state objectives of most Brexiters. While the RoI doesn’t participate in the Schengen area, there is a right of free movement throughout the EU. If people can travel from anywhere in the EU to the RoI, and then cross the border into NI freely, that pretty much puts the kibosh on any attempt to control immigration into the UK. (Unless they are going to put intra-UK movement controls between NI and GB, which nobody has suggested, and which I think would be politically unacceptable.)

[Dr.Drake]

@Deeg

Not a bad guess but then why did Wales vote to leave?

Also, there are a lot of English in Wales. The vote is broken down by geography, not ethnicity. From the people I’ve talked to, the ethnic Welsh voted “Remain”—not 100%. A higher percent for Welsh-speaking Welsh, but again not 100%.