Does anyone believe that May did the best job possible?

alex04w said:

If you look at the map of the votes in the referendum, east of the River Bann (counties Antrim and Down) voted remain and west of the Bann voted leave. (The River Bann splits the province more or less exactly in two. The Upper Bann flows north from near the border and into the bottom of the lough. The Lower Bann also flows north, out of the top of the lough and to the sea on the north coast).

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North Antrim - 62.2% leave
Strangford - 55.5
East Antrim - 55.2
Lagan Valley - 53.1
Upper Bann - 52.6
East Belfast - 51.4
South Antrim - 50.6

If you look at the map of votes for political parties in the 2017 Westminster election, east of the Bann is strongly DUP supporting and west is SF voting. The Bann also tends to be a religious divide as well. Generally speaking - Antrim was settled by the Scots and Down by the English, so largely protestant. Armagh is a bit split. Whilst the plantation was in Londonderry, it remains largely catholic, as does Tyrone and Fermanagh.



For comparison with the referendum results:-
North Antrim - DUP MP elected with 58.9% of votes cast
Strangford - DUP with 62.0%
East Antrim - DUP with 57.3%
Lagan Valley - DUP with 59.6%
Upper Bann - DUP with 43.5%
East Belfast - DUP with 55.8%
South Antrim - DUP with 38.2%

I would not say the NI farmers on here want a no deal Brexit. What they do want is very much determined by their political views on the Union. The bottom line is 70% of NI exports go to GB. We do not want anything that interrupts that (and the present deal seems to do just that, or certainly has the potential to do that if the EU plays to form).

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Muck Spreader said:

Thanks for that. As the Scottish Parliament is pressing hard to be included in this area with NI should a deal happen, would that change NI opinion's or not. Unfortunately, I don't see much chance of any real acknowledgement of Scotland predicament until independence happens. This is shown only to well by the number of times Scotland is referenced in the 590 pages of TM's draft deal. Zero.

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alex04w said:

If you look at the map of the votes in the referendum, east of the River Bann (counties Antrim and Down) voted remain and west of the Bann voted leave. (The River Bann splits the province more or less exactly in two. The Upper Bann flows north from near the border and into the bottom of the lough. The Lower Bann also flows north, out of the top of the lough and to the sea on the north coast).

View attachment 740618

North Antrim - 62.2% leave
Strangford - 55.5
East Antrim - 55.2
Lagan Valley - 53.1
Upper Bann - 52.6
East Belfast - 51.4
South Antrim - 50.6

If you look at the map of votes for political parties in the 2017 Westminster election, east of the Bann is strongly DUP supporting and west is SF voting. The Bann also tends to be a religious divide as well. Generally speaking - Antrim was settled by the Scots and Down by the English, so largely protestant. Armagh is a bit split. Whilst the plantation was in Londonderry, it remains largely catholic, as does Tyrone and Fermanagh.



For comparison with the referendum results:-
North Antrim - DUP MP elected with 58.9% of votes cast
Strangford - DUP with 62.0%
East Antrim - DUP with 57.3%
Lagan Valley - DUP with 59.6%
Upper Bann - DUP with 43.5%
East Belfast - DUP with 55.8%
South Antrim - DUP with 38.2%

I would not say the NI farmers on here want a no deal Brexit. What they do want is very much determined by their political views on the Union. The bottom line is 70% of NI exports go to GB. We do not want anything that interrupts that (and the present deal seems to do just that, or certainly has the potential to do that if the EU plays to form).

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Ashtree said:

Just saw statement from the Ulster Farmers Union who’s membership would form the backbone of the DUP, give a cautious welcome to the Teresa May deal. They of course vote with their pockets first and foremost. They of course know their lives and livelyhoods are intrinsically tied into the pro farmer outlook of the EU and the all island Irish agriculture economy. THAT’s indeed why NI voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU.
Robert Swann, and the rational UUP, must be smacking their lips, at the prospect of the next election.

Something in my waters tells me the DUP, will bottle it and not follow through with their stupid threat to vote against the TM deal ..... to do so would be to vote down the best of both worlds for the well off mainly prodestant unionist frarmers of ulster.

Political hara kiri .......

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Hindsight said:

I couldn't resist posting this quote from a readers comment on an article in The Times.

Easy. Hard Brexit; ban the imports of German cars, French cheese and wine. Sit back and wait. Negotiations will reopen.

The reason for my mirth was twofold - first the banality of the comment and its Trump like attitude to negotiations and that a ban on imports of German manufactured goods would see UK agriculture probably grind to a halt with a lack of machinery and spare parts.

What fun. That'll teach 'em.

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caveman said:

I wonder how many of the NI or Scottish voters thought the referendum question was to leave or remain in the UK?
I mean. It's been proven that about 52% of the UK population is stupid and don't know what they were voting for.

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Ashtree said:

Lady called McKenzie from a business lobby in NI, just been on the RTE 6 o’clock news.
Ripped into the hard Brexit notion as anything other than madness for NI. She figures all but a very small number of NI firms employ less than 25 people. These firms have significant trade with the south, and even those who don’t directly sell to the south are well aware that their whole supply chain is heavily connected to the south.
She also said that there is now a huge clamour from business all across NI, regarding the outcome of Brexit. They quite simply do not want to have their livelihoods sacrificed on the altar of Brexit.

The whole movie is getting really interesting in terms of NI in particular.
What if Mogg fails to get 48 signatures for his act of treachery? Looks like he won’t! Not good for DUP. They are desperate for some more Tory chaos to take the heat off their posteriors.
So May survives as PM. Gets this to a vote in Westminster. Unionist politicians in London, then left with two options. Vote against the double will of their people. Referendum result and now the real instruction coming from the grassroots to not to vote against TM!

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Still Farming said:

Failed attempt to topple PM.

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Hindsight said:

I note the DUP voted against the Government yesterday evening on the Finance Bill. Does that mean we can cancel the £1bn and recover any that has crossed the Irish Sear ?

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thewalrus said:

No you’ll just have to find more! To sweeten the deal again!

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