What I learned from people who want to preserve the Union in its most critical hour

The programmes are part of a BBC Radio 4 season called “This Union” exploring challenges within the four nations. With the pressure for another independence referendum ongoing in Scotland, the rise of English nationalism and an increased interest in Welsh identity, it seems like an important time to delve into the state of the union. Ian Hislop, Allan Little, Jeremy Bowen and I are each examining aspects of our home nations.

You can hardly pick up a British news magazine or Sunday supplement without a think piece about threats to the union. Yet, time and again Northern Ireland occupies only a few lines at the end. What often gets reported on is the break-up of Britain, specifically Scotland leaving the Union. Northern Ireland receives comparatively less coverage, leading some to believe it is not foremost in the thoughts of those in the rest of Great Britain.

Meanwhile, some question the huge sums of Treasury money funnelled into the Northern Ireland economy and a Stormont executive characterised by instability. Some argue Brexit has underscored the fact that the union with Northern Ireland limits Britain’s sovereignty.

Polls suggest many Britons see themselves as having less in common with Northern Ireland than other parts of the UK and would support an Irish border poll [YouGov, April 2020].

In “This Union: A Sea Between Us”, a series of three programmes, I talk to unionist and centrist political leaders, loyalist activists and paramilitary representatives to teachers and youth workers — I want to find out what the Union means to them today and ask who they are loyal to. Crucially, I try to explore if unionism can reach out beyond its diminishing base to promote what they see as the benefits of remaining within the union to others in Northern Ireland who either don’t agree or are agnostic.

I grew up in Belfast. I was born as the Troubles began and like others of my generation I left to go to university in England. Apart from a brief stint as a reporter at UTV, I’ve always lived and worked elsewhere.

Over the years I’ve made programmes about changes in Northern Ireland, from the impact of integrated education to the fallout on all communities of Brexit and the rise in calls for a border poll. In this series, we explore the state of the Union 100 years after the border was established; what the first Prime Minister, James Craig, called ‘A Protestant State for a Protestant people’.

A lot has changed since the border was drawn around the six counties in the north east corner of Ireland. At a time when the bonds across the whole of the United Kingdom are straining, people whose forefathers had a desire only to see off Home Rule and remain loyal to the crown within the United Kingdom and the British Empire, now might still vote for unionist parties, but may also vote for Alliance or Green, if they vote at all.

Like Kellie Turtle, who I met at Lord Carson’s statue at Stormont. An engraving at its base depicts her great-grandfather, George Walker, alongside Carson, yet today, Kellie, a feminist and environmentalist, would likely vote to leave the UK in any future border poll.

At a protest over the ‘Irish Sea Border’ in Broughshane, I met men marching in balaclavas, as TUV’s Jim Allister addressed the crowd. In a later encounter I find that Mr Allister is no fan of the term ‘progressive’.

At a Templepatrick garden centre I witness practical issues with the Protocol and at Belfast Port, Ian Paisley talks to me about his view of unionism.

I spent time in Sandy Row with 19-year-old Joel Keys who was present at April’s riots there, in an attempt to understand the mindset of young loyalist men. Days later he would tell the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster that violence could not be ruled off the table.

Ulster Unionists like Doug Beattie and Mike Nesbitt as well as former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith tell me that they are increasingly aware of the need to sell the union to Northern Ireland’s growing middle ground.

This series will, I hope, give a UK-wide audience some insights into a community geographically on the edge of the United Kingdom, but for many of whom, that union is at the core of their identity.

The Union: A Sea Between Us is on Radio 4 on July 12, 19 and 26 at 8pm