Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Did Northern Ireland finally 'win Brexit'? During the referendum, few cared to considered what effects leaving the European Union might have for the Island of Ireland. And most media have taken their eyes off the situation since the announcement of the Windsor Framework. However, I think they're wrong to do so. This video explains why.

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★ NOTE ON SOURCING IN CAPTIONS:
At the end of a sentence with sourcing, something like this will appear:
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The 1st number represents the source number in this description. The 2nd number represents the page number. If the numbers are separated by a semicolon ie (2;3), the numbers represent two different sources.

1. Joël Reland : December 20, 2023 "'Trivergence' could be the next big Brexit issue"
2. June 2, 2021 : Tony Blair Institute for Global Change : "After Brexit: Divergence and the Future of UK Regulatory Policy"
3. Tony Blair Institute for Global Change : "After Brexit”" Spisak March 2021
4. Jan2025 Webber and Foster Financial Times : "Artificial intelligence to be regulated differently in Northern Ireland and Britain"
5. Institute for Government. “The UK internal market” Jack and Sargeant 2021
6. Institute for Government : "Brexit deal: the Northern Ireland protocol" 2019 Stajanovic.
7. Guardian. "Brexit divergence from EU destroying UK’s vital environmental" 2024 Horton
8. “REACHing for divergence?” Jones and Burns 2024. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 20, Issue 5
9. UK in a Changing Europe, King's College London "UK-EU regulatory divergence tracker” 2022-2024 editions Reland, J. (2024) UK-EU Divergence Tracker Q1 2024. London: UK in a Changing Europe.
10. Text of Government of Ireland Act 1920. Accessed legislation dot govuk
11. Birth of a State The Anglo-Irish Treaty, Fathartaigh & Weeks amzn.to/3Mw1P5j
12. 1916: The Easter Rising. Tim Pat Coogan amzn.to/3X7R3qO
13. Fact Sheet on the Conflict in and about Northern Ireland. Ulster . ac . uk
14. Davies and Wachowiak "UK-EU relations tracker: April – 10-2024"
15. “The impact of the new Northern Ireland protocol” Duparc-Portier and Figus 2021. Regional Studies Volume 56, 2022
16. “European Union Developments in Equality…” February 2023. Equality Commission
17. “REPLACEMENT EU ACT on classification, labelling and packaging…” Nov 2024
18. Easter 1916 Charles Townshend. 2015 ed. amzn.to/4e64Jd7
19. Making Sense of the Troubles. David McKittrick amzn.to/3JZTYx3
20. NI Assembly. “Timeline” “While some elements of the Windsor Framework applied…”
21. “Stormont Brake: Response to the notification made under Schedule 6B Northern Ireland Act 1998 Statement made on 21 January 2025” Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent
22. Hayward. Queen’s Uni Belfast. Quoted in Parliament Windsor Framework (Democratic Scrutiny) Regulations 2023 Volume 829: debated on Wednesday 29 March 2023
23. “Amendment of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018” Article 13(3a)
24. “Ireland through geological time” Geological Survey. Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. 2025
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26. Benn MP January 20, 2025 "Letter…regarding Stormont Brake decision"
27. Ferguson January 20, 2025. Reuters : "London rejects Northern Irish unionist…"
28. Hansard (record of parliamentary debates) : March 22, 2023 : UK Parliament : "Northern Ireland - House of Commons debates"
29. December 2024. FT. Webber. "Northern Ireland braced for more Brexit turbulence"
30. Joël Reland : February 14, 2024 : UK in a Changing Europe : "Regulatory divergence and the Windsor Framework"
31. The Guardian. Dec 2024 "Starmer faces first major Brexit test…". O’Carroll
32. ---
33. Northern Ireland Assembly : "The Stormont Brake"
34. Gibson. January 28, 2025 UK Parliament. "The Stormont Brake in action"
35. January 20, 2025 FT. Webber "UK government rejects…"
36. Northern Ireland HoC debate 12:51 22 March 2023.
37. UK Government February 2023 "The Windsor Framework: A new way forward" :
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39. Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland) (via Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee) November 20, 2024: Northern Ireland Assembly : "Initial Assessment of Impact: Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (Regulation (EU) 2024/2865)"

0:00-00:35 Intro
00:36-2:44 Original Brexit Problem
2:45-4:18 Solution 1
4:19-6:38 Solution 2
6:39-8:32 Fork in the road
8:33-13:12 What's happening now?

Mapping software licensed through MapTiler,and GEOlayers. Thanks to OpenStreetMap and Natural Earth.
Music by Epidemic Sound: nebula.tv/epidemic
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images.
Stormont flowchart inspo: Stylized Timeline Animation | Adobe After Effects by:Flat Pack FX