You have to admit that there might just be more smarts in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in the rest of the United Kingdom. With a 62 per cent vote to remain with the European Union, Scotland is unlikely to go the route of Brexit. And if the only way to remain is to separate from the United Kingdom, so be it. When they recently voted to stay with the UK, there seemed little reason to separate; now there is.
The situation in Northern Ireland is quite different and needs a separate discussion from what is happening in Scotland. And before you accuse Scotland of having a ‘neverendum referendum,’ it needs to be realized that most Scots were of the opinion that Brexit would be defeated. They were even more surprised than the English bookies by what has happened.
There is of course a great deal of anger building on the continent of Europe. Nobody likes to be rejected. Imagine how people feel in London which also voted strongly to stay. It will take a lot of that bloody English stoicism to carry on through this mess. There was a great deal of that in that brief news conference in front of Downing Street by Prime Minister David Cameron.
It should be an important opportunity for the European Union to deal more effectively with the need for reform. The serious lack of leadership in the European Union has been met so far by the German and French leaders. That can hardly continue if there is not to be more countries fleeing the cloying morass of dealing through the European headquarters in Brussels.
It is particularly amusing that Canada’s parliamentarians are studying vote reform when it is so obvious that proportional voting and single-transferable voting are causing much of the problem for Members of the European Parliament (MEP). The lack of direct election and knowing your MEP has certainly contributed to the parliament’s problems and lack of effectiveness. Who knows if Canada’s parliamentarians will pay attention?
If there was no other reason for Scotland and Northern Ireland to depart the United Kingdom, it is the prospect of Brexit drum-beater MP Boris Johnson succeeding the departing David Cameron. A populist Conservative Johnson has delusions of his role in life and will not be happy to lose either Scotland or Northern Ireland from a less influential (diss)United Kingdom.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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