The Brexit vote and subsequent process have exposed the limitations of devolution, and unleashed new exit dynamics.
"the Brexit referendum, and the process that unfolded thereafter, has disrupted the UK’s territorial constitution, created limited opportunities for the devolved institutions to have an influential voice, and re-energised the politics of exit in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In Scotland, despite the legal barriers to holding an independence referendum, the electoral dominance of the pro-independence SNP makes exit a plausible strategy.
The UK case has underlined the difficulties that can be generated by imposing majoritarian decisions in a territorially diverse society, especially when that diversity is manifested in divergent political preferences. There were no geographic thresholds to be met to legitimize the outcome of the referendum in the eyes of the Westminster elite. Like all referenda in the UK, the 2016 vote was non-binding legally, but was perceived to be binding politically despite the lack of consensus across the UK’s territorial communities. Devolution was introduced as a strategy of territorial management and, in Northern Ireland, conflict resolution. Yet, Brexit has represented a shock to the system, destabilizing the delicately balanced territorial constitution and exposing the limits of devolved power in an otherwise centralized state."