David Shiels: Brexit, Northern Ireland, and borders. Why the DUP may yet break ranks with May – and force a general election

The issue of the backstop is becoming more heated and harder to navigate as time goes by.

When the Conservative-DUP pact is renegotiated, both parties must be bold

The Brexit negotiations ought to have highlighted to both sides how the Union is best served by a strong cross-water alliance.

Alistair Lexden: How the 1918 election paved the way to inter-war Conservative hegemony

Just as they had with Joe Chamberlain before him, the Tory leadership wooed Lloyd George to fatally fracture the Liberal Party.

Lord Ashcroft: My latest polling explores the tensions and controversies around the union and Northern Ireland’s border

Crucially, opinion is not just divided between Leave and Remain, but between the Province and the mainland.

James Frayne: England and Englishness, the powerful conundrum

New polling shows that national identity is a strong, emotive force – but also that it remains poorly-defined.

Interview. The Brexit negotiation – Dodds warns against the “annexation” of Northern Ireland

The DUP’s Westminster Leader says the Irish border issue is being exploited by people who want “to thwart leaving the EU if they can”.

Henry Hill: May stresses “absolute responsibility” to maintain the Union on Brexit tour

Also: Plaid leader refuses to support the Government over Salisbury; Foster suggests ‘shadow assembly’ for Northern Ireland; and more.

Brexit has busted the myth of the fragile Union

As 2017 draws to a close, the United Kingdom is in better shape than many of its supporters had dared to hope.

Murdo Fraser: Liberal Unionism – a model for Scottish Conservatives?

The history of our party has much to teach us about how to build on our modern successes.

Christopher Howarth: May has a rock-solid mandate to deliver a Brexit for all parts of Britain

Conservative MPs should get wise to Osborne’s attempt to bluff, panic and stampede them into backing Single Market membership – and no proper migration control.

WATCH: Oil, fish, independence and Brexit – exploring the election in Scotland

The Guardian’s John Harris talks to voters across Scotland.

Henry Hill: May must start to close the gap between Britain and Ulster

The Union rests on a bedrock of overwhelming economic logic, but it should be so much more. Let the Prime Minister channel Joe Chamberlain.

Peter Duncan: The Prime Minister’s gamble in Scotland – and why pressure for another independence vote may become unstoppable

Any result which sees the election of more than 45 nationalists will raise some awkward questions for May as she forms her new government.

Henry Hill: The election and Scotland. May is pursuing the most muscular and confrontational unionist strategy since Major’s.

It may go horribly wrong. It’s hard, however, to see that she can be blamed for trying.

Matthew Ellery: Plaid Cymru is seeking to subvert the wish of the Welsh people for Brexit

It has also contradicted its stance that “laws which impact the people of Wales should be made in Wales”.