Tory voters in England would be happy to see UK break up as price of Brexit, survey suggests
Majority of Conservative voters in England would prefer to press ahead with Brexit even if it led to the UK breaking up
According to research by the Centre on Constitutional Change, which is based at Edinburgh University, Brexit is "dislodging long-held red lines about the [UK] union"
It says a majority of Conservative voters in England would prefer to press ahead with Brexit even if it led to the UK breaking up
Below is an extract from the news release it has sent out..
Clear majorities of English Conservatives would support Scottish independence or the collapse of the NI peace process as the price of Brexit
87% of (overwhelmingly unionist) leave voters in Northern Ireland see the collapse of the peace process as an acceptable price for Brexit ...
Figures suggest that 77% of Conservative voters in England think Brexit would be worth it even if it led to Scottish independence, and 73% of them think Brexit would be worth it even if it led to the unravelling of the Northern Ireland peace process. Labour and Lib Dem voters are much less likely to say that, meaning that the Conservative and Unionist party is now arguable far less unionist than its rivals.
Commenting on the findings, Professor Richard Wyn Jones from Cardiff University said:
'Strident protestations of faith in the future of the union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from Theresa May and her leading ministers cannot hide the fact that that the union is under huge stress as result of Brexit. Ironically, that threat is posed at least as much by those who would regard themselves as unionists as it is by those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who actively wish the union's demise.
An overwhelming majority of Conservative voters in England would prefer to see Scotland become independent and a breakdown of the peace process in Northern Ireland rather than compromise on their support for Brexit. But it's not just Brexit. Half of English Conservative supporters want to stop Scottish MPs from sitting in the British cabinet altogether.
The bonds that have tied the union together have frayed to such an extent that, frankly, it's hard to imagine that the proposed festival of 'national renewal' is going to do anything more than emphasise the extent to which we continue to drift apart".
Reported in The Guardian 8th October 2018
centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk 'May's 'Precious Union' has Little Support in Brexit Britain'
The Centre on Constitutional Change (CCC) is a leading centre for the study of constitutional change and territorial politics in the United Kingdom and beyond. It was established in August 2013 to research the UK's changing constitutional relationships.
END
