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An opinion poll has suggested that a majority of people in Northern Ireland would vote for the re-unification of Ireland in a referendum.

The poll, financed by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, shows that the continuation of the UK is on a knife-edge, with 51% of voters backing a united Ireland, and 49% being against.

It comes 98 years after Ireland was partitioned, with six of the nine counties of Ulster splitting off to form a region with a unionist majority at the time home rule was granted by the British government to the 26 other Irish counties.

Lord Ashcroft's polls are not a member of the British Polling Council but his survey of 1,542 people is weighted by age, gender and other factors as other polls are.

Most strikingly, the only age group that produced a majority of support for staying in the UK was the over 65s. Younger voters were significantly in favour of leaving the UK and joining the Republic of Ireland.

The percentages backing reunification in different age groups Lord Ashcroft Polls (figures exclude don't knows)

Releasing the poll results, Lord Ashcroft said: “In my poll, 45% said they would vote to stay in the UK, and 46% said they would choose to leave and join the Republic of Ireland – a lead of 51% to 49% for unification when we exclude don’t knows and those who say they would not vote.

"This is in fact a statistical tie and well within the margin of error. Such a result might also reflect the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding Brexit, the Irish border and its potential effect on life in the province, which could recede when the outcome is settled.

"Be that as it may, the result underlines what could be at stake in the quest for a workable Brexit solution on the island of Ireland."

In the referendum in 2016, Northern Ireland voted by 55.8% to 44.2% to remain in the EU.

Last month, Lord Ashcroft's polling also found a small lead of 3% for independence in Scotland - although a YouGov poll for the Times conducted a month later found a 1% lead for the union.

Writing on Twitter, Daily Mirror political commentator Kevin Maguire suggested that the Northern Ireland poll's findings could explain why the DUP appeared to be softening its position on Brexit.

The party has denied a report in the Times suggesting it was willing to shift its red lines to ensure that Boris Johnson was able to get a new deal with the EU.

Leader Arlene Foster refuted the suggestion the party would drop its objection to regulatory checks in the Irish sea, saying she could not "support any arrangements that create a barrier to east-west trade", yet there is an expectation in Tory circles that the DUP line is softening and Sammy Wilson, DUP Brexit spokesman, told Radio 4 there was an improved mood around Brexit talks.

(Image: Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

In Lord Ashcroft's poll, ninety-eight per cent of nationalists were in favour of joining the Republic compared to 95% of unionists who wished to remain in the UK.

A further question asked voters whether it was more important for Northern Ireland to remain a part of either the EU or the UK, and the EU won out by an 11% difference: 55% to 44%.

Asked whether they would rather leave the EU with a deal which includes the Northern Ireland backstop, guaranteeing no hard border, or leave the EU with no deal, 60% wanted a deal with the backstop against 40% who would prefer the UK to leave the EU without a deal.

In response to a further question, 61% believed it was more important to keep the border between Ireland and the North completely invisible.

The poll follows an earlier one, also from Lord Ashcroft, which showed a majority of Scottish voters in favour of independence.

Asked how they would vote in a referendum, 46% said they would vote Yes for independence against 43% who would vote No.

Excluding those who say they don’t know or wouldn’t vote, this amounts to a lead of 52% to 48% for an independent Scotland.

This is the first lead for independence in a published poll since an Ipsos MORI survey in March 2017, and the biggest lead since a spate of polls in June 2016, shortly after the UK voted to leave the EU.

One third of Labour voters, a majority of EU Remain voters and 18% of those who voted No to independence at the last referendum in 2014 said they would vote Yes. Again, more than nine in ten Tories said they would vote No, as did just over one in ten of those who backed independence in 2014. A majority of voters up to the age of 49 said they would vote Yes, including 62% of those aged 18 to 24.

Meanwhile, putting further pressure on the survival of the UK, a YouGov poll has shown surging support for Welsh independence.