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PEOPLE IN BRITAIN would be more upset to see Gibraltar or The Falklands leave the UK than they would if Northern Ireland did, according to a new YouGov poll.
The poll asked people “How would mainland Britons feel if [x] left the UK?”
The five regions given were Wales, Scotland, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and Northern Ireland. Gibraltar and The Falklands are both overseas territories of the UK.
Participants were asked to select a response from three options: upset, not bothered or pleased.
Of the five regions, Wales and Scotland received the most ‘upset’ responses with 46% and 43% respectively.
The Falklands (also known as Malvinas in Argentina) and Gibraltar (a small headland on the Spanish coast) came 4th and 5th with 35% and 33%, while Northern Ireland’s exit would cause the least concern with just 32% selecting ‘upset.’
43% of respondents said they aren’t bothered and 15% would be pleased if Northern Ireland were to leave the union.
Interestingly, that was not the highest share of ‘pleased’ votes as Scotland received 16% in that category, although since the survey was carried out among mainland Britons, Scottish independence voters likely account for this high percentage.
Of the five regions, Gibraltar got the highest number of ‘not bothered’ votes with 48% while The Falklands came a close second with 48%.
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Ha ha
Northern Ireland could be the best part of this island to work and live if only the DUP moved on from the 1600 hundreds.
@Willie Marty: As I type, its now 16 17…
@Willie Marty: the republic don’t want it either. It should become an independent state. Slovenia has similar population and in the EU doing much better than NI. Let them learn to get along with each other and grow up #independent
@zephyrum: I would suspect some type of Northern Irish Free State will be an outcome something like Ireland’s “dominion status” offer.. Just can’t see then joining the south anytime in the short to medium term
@zephyrum: and who as appointed your good self as spokesperson for the state citizens???
@zephyrum: I’m from the republic and I’d like us to have it.
@Willie Marty: Why ?
@zephyrum: faceless , why ?
Obviously people in Britain are aware that Northern Ireland is part of Ireland and was taken by force 100 years ago.
British people are keen to see that wrong made right.
@Roger Bond: No, they simply don’t care.
If what is now NI was ‘taken by force’, that happened around 413 years ago.
@Brendan O’Brien: It happened 413 years ago and then it happened again 100 years ago when we were given an ultimatum by a far superior military force.
@Roger Bond: It wasn’t taken from ‘us’, because ‘we’ never had it.
@Roger Bond: 100 years ago they voted not to join.
@Roger Bond: White people are the minority now in England, or very very close to it.
Immigrants from most countries had the british at one time come and destroy their countries.
Im guessing thats why british people are keen to right that wrong
@Roger Bond: check out your history Ireland was never actually invaded by the English they were inviting to come to Ireland to help the High King of Leinster regain his lands by Dermot Mc Muroe and he brought Richard de Clare aka Strongbow to Ireland over 600 years ago he was them followed by King Charles 2nd a lot of confusion over this but it factual
@Roger Bond: Ulster was planted after the 9 years war – from around 1603. But for centuries before that, the McDonnells ruled a kingdom that straddled Antrim and the west of Scotland. With the exception of the years 1002 to 1014, Ulster was largely independent of the rest of the island. Those were the year Brian Boru was in charge. (He must be way – I havent seen him comment here these past few days).
@Gerard Hayden: He may have fallen off the right-most edge of the world.
@Brendan O’Brien: total nonsense
N.I is only a hundred years old
And N.i was the hotbed of rebellion for hundreds of years
Wolftone ,O Neil etc..all based up north
@Roger Bond: it was part of the Irish Free State agreement, The Irish negotiation group including Griffiths and Collins knew they would not get a deal over the line if the persisted with a 32 country agreement. So it wasn’t taken from us.
@Brendan O’Brien: we did have it in 1918 when Sinn Fein won an overwhelming majority in 32 county elections, a democratic mandate ignored and over turned by Britain which lead to war. As part of the treaty to end that war the nation was given the ultimatum of partition or “ immediate and terrible war”. Taken under terrorist threats therefore!!!
@M Bowe: Pro Treaty won an overwhelming majority and along came the civil war, your point?
@Roger Bond: There’s no moral imperative at play, the English in particular have never had any interest in NI and it’s just seen as a problem. NI’s history is the longest unrequited love affair in history.
@Roger Bond: I don’t think it is obvious Roger, I think a high percentage of them don’t have a clue how they came to control the north or anything to do with what they have done to us throughout history, I’m pretty sure they could care less!
Éire Aontaithe ar an mbealach is cosúil
@Séan Ó Nuanáin: Only if it’s passed in two referendums. There are no guarantees on that score.
@Brendan O’Brien: As lomg as it is not done in the same manner as Brexit, where it was ‘vote first, then sort iut what we voted for’. It must be clear from the very beginning what any ‘New Ireland’ would be like. Government, Constitution, Anthem, Capital, Flag, Currency, Education, everything must be clarified FIRST.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Yes, definitely.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Correct and then in 100 years we will be free to Vote !!!!
They don’t want NI because it’s a a pain in the preverbal, but why do they want to hold on to the ‘Rock’ or the Falklands?? Is it a ‘power’ thing?
@Marie Agnew: 1982 and all that.
@Marie Agnew: the water around it and what might be underneath.
@Marie Agnew: falklands … 1) potentially very rich Oil & Gas reserves on contential shelf area around Falklands they aleady found OIL in 400 Million barrel range but there still
Alot exploration going on ( main reason why Argentina would like to get their hands on it )
, 2) rich fishing commercial grounds , 3) – very strategic land mass in South Atlantic Ocean could be very important if things kicknoff beteen US & China .
4- Jumping off point to Antarctica .. it’s basically acts as large Aircraft Carrier with permanent crew of ~3,500 people and Five Hundred Thousand Sheep , a few thousand cattle , a few illegal Migrant Penguins that find Antartica itself a bit too cold ..:))
Size wise , it is the same land area as counties Cork and Galway put together (12,000 KM SQ).
@Marie Agnew: Gibraltar is the only entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. With nominal GDP growth of 7.2% and a GDP per capita of £76,153 (about $87,000) in 2021, if it were a country, Gibraltar would be the seventh most affluent in the world. 60% of online betting in the UK is processed through Gibraltar and one in six UK cars on the road are insured out of Gibraltar so you can see why they treasure it.
@Marie Agnew: They could relocate the Unionists, to the Falklands and give NI back!
Northern ireland is a basket case no wonder uk dont want it, cost them billions to subsidise it everyyear, romanticism with some irish people making island 1 country, be careful what you wish for, would have a civil war
@redmarkod: and who would be arming the loyalists I wonder??
No surprises there then.
lol
Gibraltar is strategic for easy access to the Med and Suez as is Falklands if a S.American country was a threat and N.Ireland just more of a pain to the Brits these days
Upset? They can’t wait to be shot of it.
I notice they didn’t ask who would be upset if England left the union? Might have proved interesting.
@Paul Shepherd: The trappings of a long lost murderous empire is still in the minds of a section of the British Upper class, certainly it is in the minds of a section of the the working class who lived in poverty in London, Manchester, Glasgow etc and yet cheered for the same empire that kept them in poverty…The fact Britain is now a second rate power in the context of the superpowers will never sit well with them.
@Donal Desmond: 2nd ?
22% of people in the south said they’d be in a favour of a United ireland if it went an increase in taxes.
@Michael OKelly: It’s a tax I’d gladly pay
22% of people in the south said they’d be in a favour of a United ireland if it meant an increase in taxes.
@Michael OKelly: And what did they say in the East and West? Why only ask Waterford, Wexford and Cork counties?
Well IRELAND IS IRELAND AND NEEDS TO BE UNITED
@Anthony Ross: Your CapsLk is stuck on
Last time I looked at a map Ireland wasn’t part of the British land mass so therefore is a overseas occupied territory
Why was England not on the list? No-one would be upset if England left the UK? (They left Europe.)
Why were Northern Irelanders not asked?
The pollsters seemingly harbour built-in prejudices about who, and what questions, should be asked.
@Tacita O’Copa: England is still in Europe, perhaps a little Geography would help.
By Britons they’re excluding Scottish and English people presumably.
@Artxandos: deja vu
anyone.!!!
Northern Ireland needs to determine its own fate (definitely not faith) in its own time.
Everyone else should back off.
Looking at it from a potential English point of view ; is NI not as strategically important as the others?
1. YouGov polls are never a reliable indicator of any one country because they involve niche demographics. Most people in the UK are not doing YouGov polls. The people doing such polls are often more politically minded or affiliated than most others.
2. YouGov polls are like civil servants, approach with caution.
3. Nobody asked me. I’d be very disappointed and sad to see Northern Ireland, the Falklands, or Gibraltar leave (though all are unlikely at present anyway). I suspect that most people I know in England would feel the same.
have your say