Comments by "Nigel Johnson" (@nigeljohnson9820) on "Johnson may opt for backstop ‘which only applies to Northern Ireland’, says former Belfast advisor" video.

Wrong, both Scotland and Northern Ireland would be a liability to the EU and particularly to the Republic of Ireland. Only very recently Varadkar rejected any notion of reunification with NI. The EU seems very willing to preserve its border by infringing the UK border and it's sovereignty. Which is the effect of isolating the rest of the UK from Northern Ireland. It would be a different matter if the majority of the people in NI voted for reunification, but that is not going to happen any time soon and in any case the EU and the RoI have freely admitted they do not want the political and financial liability.
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@yermanoffthetelly you clearly disagree with the comments of your leader. In order to survive the bank bill it was necessary to borrow from the UK. I doubt that the EU would agree with your comments either, at least not in private. Your 20 year time scale for reunification is predicated on the idea that in 20 years the demographic of NI will have changed to the point where the catholics outnumber the protestants, or the republicans will outnumber the unionists. Over that time period, who knows if the EU will still exist. If it does the concept of Ireland as a country may not exist. It will most likely simply be a homogeneous anonymous region of the EU super state dominated by migrants from Africa and the middle East. Given the the very long history of enmity between the two communities, what makes you think that twenty years will be sufficient to remove the hatred. No, if reunification becomes the majority view in NI, it will be due to the change in the demographic.
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@taintabird23 you are being very selective with the interview, I suggest you listen to all of it.
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@gloin10 both Scotland take more from the UK exchecker than they contribute. If Scotland leaves the UK, not only will it lose the money it receives from the UK exchecker, but you also expect it to make contributions to the EU budget. In the case of NI the cost of it to the UK is far greater than the UK EU membership fee. In both cases you are expecting that both will suddenly become profitable in their own right and make contributions to the EU budget. In the case of Scotland, it will lose access to its main trading partner ( England ) and replace it with a very poor second the EU. Anything that affects the EU budget will impact on the RoI. So while NI will have a direct impact, Scotland not being a net contributed to the EU budget will also impact on the RoI. So much for your understanding of economics, never mind geography. You may be correct about the changing demographic of NI, a fact I have already admitted, but you will most likely exchange republican terrorism for that of loyalists, only this time it will be directed at the RoI and the EU. I think you are being very disingenuous if you think that hundreds of years of sectarianism can be washed away in a few years, just because the demographic ratio has changed. The EU has never admitted in public that NI is a liability but neither varadkar or the EU seem keen to make reunification happen, in the recent interview Mr Varadkar eluded time the political problem of reunification and admitted it was likely to be rejected by a NI referendum. It is open to interpretation if his reference to the political problems of reunification were related simply to the administration problems or a recognition of the risk of loyalists terrorism. You may cynically assume that the loyalists will offer support to anyone who pays them sufficient, but as you have recognised it only takes a few diehards to form a terrorist force. Something which has been demonstrated by the provisional IRA. Then there is your optimism that all will be financial and political sweetness and light in the reunited Ireland, given that it will be in the EU that seems very unlikely or have you not been paying attention to the EU's problems. I suppose you have been too preoccupied with the UK's problems to notice.
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@gloin10 interesting that Scotland is claiming the oil. I think there we'll be a debate about that, but it may be irrelevant if what little oil is left must stay in the ground inorder to meet EU carbon zero targets. But if all Scottish assets are totalled and counted against those they will lose to the rest of the UK, I doubt if Scotland will be a contributed to the EU budget. If it is, it will certainly be worse off than it is now. I find it ironic that the SNP is willing to give to Brussels those powers that it currently enjoys under devolution from Westminster. There are also additional costs that will fall on an independent Scotland, such as providing for its own defence. It is true that Scotland once had a high standard of education, but standards have been falling under SNP control. Since the UK will be outside the EU market, an independent Scotland will have no choice but to close the border with England and EU tariffs will automatically limit trade between the two. It is interesting that you mention sinn Fein who have been reported to be in favour of Ireland leaving the EU. As for the loyalists forming terror groups, I should point out the most successful paramilitary attack of the troubles in terms of loss of life was perpetrated by the loyalists in the RoI. While England might not support such terrorist activity, outside the EU it may not be as active in stopping it.
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