An audience member on last night’s Question Time said she is so fed up with the “mess” of Brexit, that if leaving the EU means the UK should be broken up then that’s what should happen.
In an angry tirade the woman claimed Northern Ireland and Scotland don’t want to be “part of us anymore” and that “if Ireland’s a problem, give it back to the Irish”.
She said: “Leave means leave – that is what I voted for and that is what I expected. All the prevaricating is just ridiculous, we’re just going round in circles.
“Why don’t we just break off? Just leave, let it be done with that. If Ireland’s a problem, give it back to the Irish. Let them have it, they don’t want to be a part of us anymore and neither do the Scots.
“Let Scotland go as well, I really don’t care. I just want out of this damn mess.”
Leaving the EU is already proving tricky enough but breaking up the UK as well would only complicate matter further.
A so-called “semi-Brexit” has been mooted, most notably by Princeton Professor Kim Lane Scheppele, but added complications would be numerous, including:
- The formation of an English parliament
- Residency and work permits for English and Welsh people living and working in Scotland and N Ireland and vice-versa
- Even more border issues on top of the backstop headache we already have
In sum, it would be really complicated.
Aside from the political and logical intricacies of breaking up the UK, people on social media pointed out the “irony of people who campaigned to ‘take our country back’ are now happy to literally lose half of it.”
Elsewhere last night, it was a rough night for both Johnson’s Tory party and the Labour as both faced a backlash at the ballot box over Brexit while smaller parties and independents surged ahead in local elections.
With results in from 100 of the 248 councils where elections are being held the Liberal Democrats had a net gain of 235 seats and the Greens 34.