When we wrote on Wednesday that it looked very like something would finally happen in the long running Brexit agony, it turns out we were correct. This morning’s news brings the story that Prime Minister Theresa May has annnounced she will step down on June 7 and continue “acting” until Conservatives select a new leader.
While it has been clear for weeks that this was what had to happen, it wasn’t clear May had accepted that inevitability. Now she has, tearfully.
Nobody can say May didn’t try her hardest to pull off a Brexit that sorta, kinda met the needs of most Brits. Trouble was, they didn’t agree enough to make a compromise work.
The only way to leave the EU is to just go, and then deal with the EU the same way the U.S. or Canada does. Presumably this is what will now happen.
It is likely the Good Friday agreement between the U.K. and Ireland will be a casualty of this outcome. If that happens, a unified whole-island Ireland may be the downstream result.
If so, will there be relatively massive population migration like that when Pakistan separated from India? I judge that as less likely, since in recent years the Republic of Ireland has become much less a ‘colony’ of the Vatican than was formerly true. It has moved policy-wise in the direction of becoming a modern, pluralistic society.
On the other hand, if I were a Northern Ireland Protestant who wished to keep my U.K. residency/citizenship I’d be exploring selling my N.I. property. And sooner rather than later, perhaps on a sell-and-lease-back basis, giving me portability when/if needed.
Ironic that the end of Prime Minister May is announced near the end of the month of May, IMHO.
