Unionists and PM should look to the Canaries for a solution to the Brexit border conundrum

BREXIT has created a new battleground between unionist and nationalist. The EU wants a border in the Irish Sea, the DUP and Theresa May don’t.

Look at the Canary Islands for a solution. They are part of Spain but have special political and economic status. That is because they are a long way from Spain and are isolated.

The population of the Canaries is 2.1 million, against 1.9 million here. The area is 2,800 square miles, against 5,400 here. We are not talking Isle of Man here. They have a delegated assembly.

The DUP insists Northern Ireland is, and will remain, a fully integrated part of the UK. However, when it talks about marriage rights and abortion, it says Northern Ireland is different.

It wants it both ways, but which is it to be? Surely the reality is that Northern Ireland is different? Surely the political stresses and strains over the last 50 years and more prove that.

If a vote on a united Ireland were now to show a swing from unionism to nationalism, the unionist defence against integration with the rest of the island is bound to be that the six-county area is, and always will be, different from the 26 counties.

Just as the Canaries achieved special status because the islands are isolated in the Atlantic Ocean, Northern Ireland should have the same designation, not because of isolation, but because we are inhabited by two tribes.

We would do well to look carefully at this issue. We might just find a solution. The EU might just be on to something.

If, however, the DUP refuses to address this, it will walk blindfold into a united Ireland as the inevitable demographic shift takes over.

DAVID McCARTER Hillsborough