Following Parliament’s rejection of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit proposal this week, the European Union has once again deferred Britain’s deadline to leave, granting a 90-day extension until January 31.
At the center of the Brexit turmoil is the divided island of Ireland. The sovereign Republic of Ireland is a member of the EU, but Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom, and when or if Britain ever manages to leaves the EU, Northern Ireland will have to leave with it.
Twenty-one years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which brought a fragile peace to the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain, newconflict over a possible customs border has energized calls for a united Ireland. Across the Irish Sea, there is also growing support for a second referendum on Scottish independence.
NPR’s London Correspondent Frank Langfittjoins Tom Hall from Belfast with the latest.
