THE DUP’s Gavin Robinson was quickly out of the traps to repudiate Donald Trump’s remarks on Irish unity.

He posted on X that “Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington”, thereby inadvertently accepting that there will be a reunification referendum.

Another takeaway from his riposte is that Robinson accepts that the north is not like, altogether now, “the rest of the UK”.

After all, you couldn’t say Kent or Norfolk’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Kent or Norfolk.

No going back to the division of the past - The Irish News view

Sophie Clarke: Belfast’s Big Fish needs repaired, not a vegan message from PETA

That’s because unlike anywhere else in the UK, the north has a legal right to secede as it’s not part of Britain, and that right to secede is enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement, endorsed by the first exercise in self-determination by the people of Ireland since 1918.

Robinson is partly correct. The people of the north may vote, but the outcome is not solely in their hands because, since there have to be two referendums, the people in the south could vote no and we’d be back to square one.

Which brings us to another point. The reunification referendum which Robinson implicitly admits will take........

© The Irish News