Could Brexit break the Union?

As England leads its neighbours out of the EU, old battles over a shared British history are being fought all over again

By Misha Glenny

Journalist Misha Glenny goes in search for explanations for the Brexit situation analysing the Union’s history and even digging into his family’s past generations.

I quote:

“Born and brought up in London and Oxford, I absorbed the widely held English conviction that what really matters in our island histories is what happens in England. By contrast, events on the Celtic periphery were at best a curiosity and at worst an annoyance. Such indifference was a source of irritation in Ireland, Scotland and Wales long before the 2016 referendum on membership of the EU. But the Brexit vote has undoubtedly sharpened these resentments, accentuating the conflicts between Britain’s nations and infusing their separate histories with new meaning.

The highly distinct identities that have emerged from our different experiences became clear when both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain with larger majorities (a thumping one in the former) than the margin by which the country as a whole voted to leave. This has created a dynamic tension that is unlikely to disappear once the real nature of Brexit emerges.
At the time of the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement, the Union appeared robust and flexible enough to meet the aspirations of its constituent nations… Nobody could have imagined that just two decades later the Union would be under threat. But it increasingly looks that way — and I wanted to understand why.”
……
“Englishness is more entwined with an imperial identity and less with the internal relations of the Union. The confrontation with the EU follows that pattern…
Just as it has opened divisions across Britain about where our future lies, Brexit will renew the battles over our history. The outcome of these will play a central role in deciding whether we remain together or go our separate ways.”

Taken by some “Old England” illusions, brexiteers managed to create chaos in the world’s oldest democracy which now seems completely dysfunctional.
I am horrified and sad.

https://www.ft.com/content/1c10a936-4b1d-11e9-8b7f-d49067e0f50d