Former PM believes Northern Ireland will leave UK in the long term – but remains opposed to Scottish independence

• ‘I don’t want to be a backseat driver’: Gordon Brown on Burnham, billionaires – and his vision for a better Britain

The former prime minister Gordon Brown has said it is inevitable that Ireland will become united at some point in the future, in a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian.

While he added that any union would necessarily be “a long process” and based on mutual agreement, Brown’s comments are notable both because of his vehement opposition to Scottish independence, but also because of his involvement in government in efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

Former PM believes Northern Ireland will leave UK in the long term – but remains opposed to Scottish independence

• ‘I don’t want to be a backseat driver’: Gordon Brown on Burnham, billionaires – and his vision for a better Britain

The former prime minister Gordon Brown has said it is inevitable that Ireland will become united at some point in the future, in a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian.

While he added that any union would necessarily be “a long process” and based on mutual agreement, Brown’s comments are notable both because of his vehement opposition to Scottish independence, but also because of his involvement in government in efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

High court quashes latest restriction on Orange Order march, reigniting political row over Garvaghy Road

The boiling cauldron known as Drumcree that used to scald and torment Northern Ireland each summer gradually cooled two decades ago, leaving it as a name for the history books.

Instead of pitched battles between Orangemen and police around the parish church near Portadown in County Armagh, and the murderous sectarian violence they triggered across the region, gave way to a de facto truce.