Your rosy view of the UK as one big happy family doesn't quite square with history. Ireland, Scotland, and Wales were forcibly absorbed by miltary force. Ireland was never really settled, averaging an armed revolt every generation for hundreds of years. The Scotts are flirting with leaving, and there is still some separatist sentiment in Wales.
It might be interesting to see the what happens in northern Ireland if Scotland does bolt. The ethnic background of the Ulster unionist is neither Irish or English, but Scottish.
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