Northern Ireland: Wilson’s proposal and Brexit
The general public in the UK became aware of the problems in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s, when stories of atrocities committed by the ragtag Irish Republican Army (IRA) first surfaced. Bombings and shootings became frequent occurrences and the problems spread to the Republic of Ireland and the mainland United Kingdom of Great Britain. Soon, the IRA militants, who were Catholic republicans, were confronted by a loyalist Protestant militia and the atrocities multiplied. A protracted, albeit low-level, civil war might have been anticipated if more people had listened to then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson. His proposal would have resolved the current Irish problem of the British Government seeking an exit from the European Union.
Since the goal of the IRA was the unification of the entire island of Ireland, Harold Wilson tried to nip the problems in the bud by proposing that Ireland join as a member of the Commonwealth, the association of independent states that were once part of the British empire. . Although Protestant loyalists did not wish to become citizens of the Republic of Ireland, they would have retained their link to the Queen of England as head of the Commonwealth.
The Irish troubles dragged on for thirty years until the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998. This provided for the free movement of people, goods and services across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Such frictionless borders were common among all EU member states and as long as both the UK and the Republic of Ireland remained members of the EU, this arrangement caused no political or economic problems. But now that the UK is leaving the EU, the issue of the border with Northern Ireland has become a major bone of contention.
The UK government wants to keep the border frictionless in Ireland to prevent a resurgence of IRA violence, but the EU can only allow this if the UK remains within the EU Customs Union. This solution is not acceptable to hardline Brexiteers in the UK’s ruling Conservative Party. If the UK leaves the Customs Union, the EU insists there must be a hard border between the island of Great Britain and the island of Ireland, thus separating Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.
The situation is further complicated because the British Prime Minister (PM) has a parliamentary majority only with the support of the ten members of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which represents the Protestants of Northern Ireland who are strictly loyal to the British Crown. . These people are strongly opposed to any customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and thus tie the PM’s hands in negotiations with the EU. Things would have been much easier if 50 years ago Harold Wilson could have put his plan into action.