A Guardian/ICM poll this morning reveals that more Britons believe Northern Ireland should be part of a united Ireland than think it belongs in the United Kingdom.
Forty-one per cent of Britons believe Northern Ireland should be joined with the Republic while only 26 per cent say it should continue being part of the United Kingdom.
For unionists, the poll's findings amount to a cold shoulder from their fellow citizens. Only one in four wants the North to remain part of the UK.
Asked who they blamed for the current problems in the Northern Ireland peace process, 3 per cent of respondents named unionists, 5 per cent said republicans while 64 per cent blamed both sides equally.
The findings represent a long-term shift in British opinion on the future of the North. In surveys taken in the 1980s and 1990s, views were much more evenly divided, with just a point or two separating the two opposing views.
Today's poll sees the pro-unification camp extend a 15 per cent lead over the stay-in-the-UK position.
ICM's polling was done over the weekend following the IRA's widely-condemned withdrawal of its offer on disarmament and amid multiple allegations of renewed IRA activity in Colombia and elsewhere. Anti-republican feeling could have been expected to surge. Yet few respondents drew any distinction between republicans and unionists when it came to apportioning blame for the current stalemate.