Brexit border chaos could break up the UK and lead to a united Ireland and Scottish independence, warns May

• Claimed Ireland’s ‘liberalisation’ means voters in the North could opt to leave UK
• Pointed to abortion and gay rights reforms which have cut opposition to the idea 
• She stressed ‘knock-on effect’ would be Scotland breaking away from the union

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Cross-border chaos caused by a hard Brexit could lead to a united Ireland, Theresa May has warned.

The Prime Minister pointed to abortion and gay rights reforms in the Republic which have cut opposition to the idea in Northern Ireland.

She claimed the ‘liberalisation’ of the Irish Republic means voters in the North could opt for the province to leave the UK, if border tensions caused by No Deal or another hard Brexit prompted a backlash against Westminster.

Prime Minister Theresa May pointed to abortion and gay rights reforms in the Irish Republic and said it has cut opposition to the idea of a united Ireland in the North

She also stressed the ‘knock-on effect’ would be Scotland breaking away from the UK and ‘the destruction of our precious union’.

Mrs May made the warning when she met senior Tories, including leading Brexiteers, at her country residence Chequers on Sunday in an attempt to win support for her withdrawal plan. 

The Daily Mail has been told she spoke ‘passionately’ about the risk of a united Ireland when Brexiteers urged her to leave the EU with No Deal.

She said her plan was designed to prevent border tensions in Northern Ireland, while her opponents’ hard-Brexit proposals – including No Deal – did not take account of this or the damaging consequences for the union.

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Ever since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, the Republican anti-Brexit Sinn Fein has campaigned for a cross-border poll to pave the way for a united Ireland.

The demand is fiercely opposed by the pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party, which is propping up Mrs May’s administration in Westminster. 

Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, a united Ireland could be formed if those on both sides of the border voted for it in separate polls.

Most experts have argued Northern Ireland would vote against such a move, partly on the grounds that its majority Protestant community is hostile to the Republic’s Catholic- influenced conservative social laws.

Mrs May claimed the ‘liberalisation’ of the Irish Republic means voters in the North could opt to leave the UK if border tensions (pictured) prompt a backlash against Westminster.

However, Mrs May told Brexiteers that recent reforms in the Republic, led by the openly gay Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, had changed things.

The ban on abortion was scrapped last year – unlike in the North, where it remains – while same-sex marriage laws were introduced in 2015. Divorce was legalised in 1995.

A well-placed source said: ‘She said Sinn Fein would use any border problems from No Deal to step up demands for a United Ireland poll and the result may be not what people expected.

‘She said liberalisation of Ireland’s laws on homosexuality and abortion had altered opinion in Northern Ireland towards the Republic.

‘They were more likely to vote for it than before and it would produce a knock-on effect in Scotland.

‘The Scots would demand the right to leave the UK and then the union would be destroyed.’

The Good Friday Agreement grants Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley the power to call a border poll in the North. 

If it were to take place, a similar poll would have to be held simultaneously in the Republic.

If both produced majorities in favour, the two regions would indeed be united as one Ireland.

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