Brexit and The (dis)United Kingdom

Picture source: https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/how-the-uk-voted-to-leave-the-eu-in-five-maps-and-charts-741655.html

My thoughts on Brexit:

In 2016, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as is the UK's official name, voted to leave the EU. Personally, I think it was quite foolish to have a referendum on such a complex subject, but it happened anyway and now we have to respect its outcome, and deal with its consequences.

The vote was close to 50-50, which immediately shows that the UK is heavily divided on this subject. Moreover, the vote divides the UK along geographical lines, and along the borders of its constituent countries, which will probably give rise to unnecessary tensions within the UK.

Also, there's the problem with the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which may need to become a proper EU border again if the UK as a whole will leave the EU. A border around Northern Ireland will rupture the delicate relationships within Hibernia. Nobody should want that, really...

And last but not least, there are remote UK territories like Gibraltar, whose citizens mostly voted to stay in the EU...

Note that the UK is a political union while the EU is - more or less - a trade union. So I wondered, would it even be thinkable that part of the UK stays within the EU and part of the UK leaves the EU? This "solution" would of course still require a EU trade border, but this border can be drawn within the UK, between the area that predominantly opted to leave the EU, and the area that wanted to stay. Basically, this means that such a EU trade border should be across the main island of Great Britain, roughly between Scotland and England, rather than between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland...

Interesting fact: a EU trade border between the "remainers" and the "brexiteers" (effectively between Scotland and England) would actually be shorter than a EU trade border around Northern Ireland....

Just to be clear: I am NOT advocating Scottish independence. No. I am simply proposing the most sensible compromise possible, which would cause less disruption to the people involved than would happen under the current Brexit plans.

Would it be awkward to have half of the UK in and half the UK out of the EU? For sure it will! But just take a look at the current constitution of the UK, and you'll see that so many weird territorial constructions are going on there...

See for example this crazy video. A future where Scotland and Northern Ireland stay inside the EU, while England and Wales opt to leave the EU suddenly isn't that weird anymore, is it? And such construction would certainly reflect the outcome of 2016 Brexit referendum more accurately than carving out the complete UK.

Pragmatic as this solution may be, I fear that this will prove to be too much of a constitutional challenge, which of course has next to zero chance of being accepted in the quite traditional House of Commons, and even less in the uber-traditional House of Lords. I already receive visions of a rabid Boris Johnson going ballistic over even suggesting such a horrid compromise....