Peter Ramsay is not the archetypal Brexiteer. He's white and at the back end of middle age but you're unlikely to find him fraternising with the ERG or DUP, as his antipathy for the EU is very much informed by the left. He's an London School of Economic academic and a self-professed "internationalist and democrat" who strives to find ways democracy can be more effective and representative.
He says that in order for Britain (a reduced UK consisting of England, Scotland and Wales) to be a proper sovereign state, it must jettison Northern Ireland. The professor isn't suggesting anything undemocratic occurs but along with the co-authors of Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy After Brexit he argues that it's logical for British democrats to encourage moves towards Irish unity.
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"It is in our interests to play our part in convincing a majority of voters in Northern Ireland that their future lies in a united Ireland so that a border poll, when it comes, delivers a decisive vote for reunification and strengthens the sovereignty of both states," the book states.
"A significant movement in Britain along these lines would be a game-changer in Northern Irish politics."
Taking Control argues that because of a sizeable nationalist contingent, Britain's sovereignty in the north was always questionable – its authority "inadequate", sovereignty a "legal formality". The Good Friday Agreement and the development of a formal role for Dublin further diluted sovereignty.
Although an advocate of Brexit, Mr Ramsay does not regard himself as a eurosceptic, just anti-EU.
"It is a fundamentally anti-democratic organisation, which by the particular way it's designed frustrates the national sovereignty of the peoples of its member states," he says of the bloc.
"I'm a believer in national sovereignty, as you cannot have democracy without sovereignty – without a singular locus of accountable power that claims to represent all of the people within the territory and has the authority to do so. I believe not only in Britain's national sovereignty but in the national sovereignty of all nations – in fact for me the project of national sovereignty in the contemporary era is an internationalist project."
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For Brexit to "fulfil its potential" he believes other states will have to leave the EU. Notably, he is not a supporter of Scottish independence and whereas he believes Brexit gave a boost to Irish nationalism, there was not a corresponding fillip for its Scottish counterpart.
"For the British state to rule Scotland doesn't require anything like the Good Friday Agreement; it doesn't require bringing in another state to help it stabilise Scotland; it doesn't require the institutionalised sectarianism that's in the Stormont power-sharing arrangements; and critically the British political parties that represent people across the whole of Britain represent people in Scotland and campaign in Scottish elections," he says.
"The most powerful contrast is that where Brexit has weakened the union between Britain and Northern Ireland, it has strengthened the union between England, Wales and Scotland.
"The SNP has gone into a crisis in the years following the Brexit referendum – on the surface, that crisis has to do with the trans policy or the financial shenanigans but these issues wouldn't have damaged the party so badly if it had been able to make any sort of progress on its core mandate."
The LSE law academic suggests the British public has never had the same affinity for Northern Ireland as the political class. He argues that existing British political parties "are too conservative with a small c" and don't yet have the imagination to embrace the idea of supporting Irish unity.
"In the book we quote a poll from 2019 where 59 per cent of Conservative voters said they'd support ending the union with Northern Ireland in order to get Brexit done – so the traditional sympathisers of the union preferred Brexit to the union with Northern Ireland," he says.
"That was in the heat of a crisis during the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations and I don't know if that would still be the case today but it indicates that the British political class in its senescence, is unable to grasp this opportunity at the moment.
"Being realistic I don't think there's going to be a major shift in thinking soon and Britain will limp along with the protocol but gradually the case for the border poll will get stronger, though that doesn't necessarily mean a majority in the north will vote for reunification."
Irish unity 'a tremendous opportunity'
Nonetheless, Professor Ramsay believes Irish unity is in Britain's best interest, characterising it as "tremendous opportunity".
"Not only will we strengthen our collective room for manoeuvre as a nation – the British nation – but we have the opportunity to reset relations between Britain and Ireland, which seems to me just a huge historic opportunity, not just for Ireland, but for Britain as well," he says.
"The two countries inevitably are very, very closely enmeshed; our people are meshed and our economies are enmeshed and the possibility of just burying that hatchet is, I think, is one that will be very foolish for Britain to give up – it represents a great potential for a huge boost of energy to both countries."
The seismic shift in the dynamic would come when the British establishment recognises the opportunity that arises from Irish unity.
"If British political parties and the British political class were to begin to act on the sentiment of its own population and the national interest, then that would change the game in Northern Ireland because it would make clear to unionism what the lay of the land was," says Ramsay.
"The British Empire is gone and the Irish Republic is no longer dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, all unionism's traditional arguments against a united Ireland have gone and in every respect, it's not only is it in Britain's interest, but ultimately it's in the interest of the unionist community."
:: Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy After Brexit is published by Polity Press, Cambridge and features contributions from Philip Cunliffe, George Hoare, Lee Jones and Peter Ramsay.
