Norman Tebbit’s comments on Irish unification challenged by MLA looking at census figures

Writing in The Daily Telegraph this week, Mr Tebbit, asked: “Is eventual Irish unification now inevitable?” The figures released last week from the 2021 census in Northern Ireland showing that Protestants in NI are now slightly outnumbered by Catholics for the first time seemed to him to “hold the possibility of a major change in the structure of the United Kingdom”. Looking at the increase in Irish passports in NI and the younger Catholic population, he concluded: “All in all, it looks more likely than not that in the not too distant future, the province will become part of the Republic”.

However DUP MLA Phillip Brett said Mr Tebbit was wrongly assuming that all Catholics would vote for Irish unification. “I don’t agree with those suggesting that religion can be equated with political outlook,” he said. The census showed that while 42.3% of people are Catholic only 29.1% identify as ‘Irish only’. He said the union works because it is the sixth largest economy in the world, because of cultural ties between the regions, the NHS and its welfare system.

Last week, the British Attitudes Survey showed people in GB who support a united Ireland dropped from 52% in 1998 to 41% today, and 49% of them now believe that NI should be part of the UK, up from 26% in 1998.