BELFAST: Northern Ireland’s first minister said yesterday he would summon “every fibre of his being” to urge Scottish voters not to leave the United Kingdom as fellow Unionists fretted about next week’s referendum.
Peter Robinson, whose Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) shares power with nationalist Sinn Fein in the British-controlled province’s devolved government, said it would be a tragedy to lose a “family member” Northern Ireland has so much in common with.
An opinion poll on Saturday showed for the first time this year that Scots may vote for independence next week in a poll that could herald the break up of the UK, prompting concern bordering on panic among Britain’s ruling elite. “I respect the fact that it’s their choice, but summon every fibre of my being to say don’t go! Stay and continue to shape our nation,” Robinson wrote in an opinion piece in Northern Ireland’s Newsletter newspaper.
“This is not a choice between rule from London or going it alone. The best way to preserve and promote the Union is through devolution,” he wrote. “Devolving power into the hands of locally accountable political institutions helps to solidify the Union, not dilute it.”
A Scottish exit would be a huge psychological blow to Northern Ireland’s loyalists, who express their allegiance to London by lining their streets with Britain’s Union Jack flags, some even painting kerbstones in its red, white and blue.
It would force England and Northern Ireland to reassess their constitutional relationship, whose divisive details helped to fuel 30 years of bloodshed between Protestant loyalists and Catholic republicans who wanted to unite with the Irish Republic to the south.
Many Northern Irish Protestants trace their roots to Scotland via a migration in the 16th and 17th centuries. The main Irish nationalist parties in Northern Ireland have maintained a studied silence during the campaign, insisting the vote is a matter for
the Scots. REUTERS
