Unionist politicians must represent the views of their electorate

Sir: David McKittrick may be right about the changing population of what currently constitutes Northern Ireland but the point that he and others on this side of the water forget at their peril is that the land boundary of Northern Ireland is based only on the borders of the six counties, themselves based only on property and administrative considerations of past centuries.

It was never intended thus. The 1921 settlement establishing partition provided for a boundary commission. This was supposed to draw up a truer boundary to exclude areas within the the six counties having a nationalist majority, and even to include certain areas in what is now the Republic which then were predominatly Unionist. The commission was never implemented so the present boundary occurred only by default.

All past history now - but it is a reminder that the population proportions quoted occur only because of a line on a map, not because of ethnic, political or even geographical realities. Draw the line somewhere else and either politico-religious group could be said to be in a majority - but it does not change the current reality that Orange Unionists are unlikely to agree to be forced to live under green republicanism whether in a majority or minority.

It might not resolve the problem in the longer term but at least a "repartition" (to include even isolated parts of Belfast) might ease the present pain.

HUGH G W WILSON

Chesham, Buckinghamshire