I know a few things about this! Also, my mother was born in Northern Ireland, so it's a bit personal, in spite of my living in Canada and all.
I… was not expecting the vote to go that way at all. I mean, the news I was getting was a bit biased (coming from Daniel, Kat, and other pro-Remain UK friends I have on Facebook), but it looked like the Remain camp had actual arguments, whereas Leave had… racism and lies, apparently, being that the promise to divert EU dues to the NHS was never gonna happen but they made it part of their campaign anyway.
And now the economy seems to be hurting, people are being racist shitheads to anyone who doesn't look like a proper white British person, the Tories are fighting amongst themselves (which they might deserve, they did make this shitpile after all), people in the Labour party are threatening a coup, Scotland's threatening to leave again, and Northern Ireland, oh Northern Ireland, this is gonna be a huuuuuuge mess there, from what I'm reading. They are also threatening to leave and unify with the Republic of Ireland; this, I think, is less likely than Scotland leaving the UK, and also the Northern Ireland Secretary (I think that's her title) said 1) no, you're not legally allowed to do that, and 2) isn't this referendum result wonderful? Considering NI voted in favour of Remain, that seemed rather callous. What has me worried is the possibility of violence starting up again, for reasons outlined
here. Why didn't the Leavers consider this? Or worse, did they consider it, and decide peace in Northern Ireland didn't matter as much as immigration control?
And now we also see that the Leavers have absolutely no plan at all or how they want this to work. They went into this and campaigned for this without a plan for what happens if they won. Maybe they never expected to win? But I think that should really tell people, don't vote for anybody or anything unless you've seen their action plan (Americans, take note). Also, David Cameron, never call for a referendum on something unless you are fully prepared to deal with an outcome like this. Not that it'll matter, since you're quitting, but pass that along to whomever takes over after you.
Going forward, I think the UK might try to arrange for a deal sorta like what Norway has: they get to participate in the EU Economic Zone (though that requires playing by some of the EU's rules), they will no longer have a vote in the European Parliament, and they'll get those tight borders and the immigration control they've been wanting. What that means for EU citizens currently living and working in the UK, or for UK citizens living and working elsewhere in the EU, I'm not sure. Perhaps some sort of grandfathering agreement for those people? And finally, as for Ireland… I don't know.
