Sinn Féin have announced that they will not put forward a candidate for deputy first minister, and barring a miracle, that means today’s 4pm deadline for a new power-sharing executive will come and go. What next for Northern Ireland?
While another election is possible, it’s not particularly likely. Although another contest might change the political composition at Stormont a little, when the dust settles, once again, the problem will be that the DUP and Sinn Féin are unable to agree terms to resume power-sharing.
That means a decade of devolved rule is ending and direct rule from Westminster is once again upon us. Who benefits? As Patrick explains in greater detail, a period of direct rule might be good news for Sinn Féin, who can go into the next set of elections in the Republic of Ireland on an anti-austerity platform without the distracting matter of the austerity they are signing off in the North. The change at the top also allows that party to accelerate its move away from the hard men of the north and towards a leadership that is more palatable in the south..
Despite that, the DUP aren’t as worried as you might expect. For one thing, a period of devolved rule, when the government at Westminster has a small majority isn’t without upside for the DUP, who will continue to exert considerable leverage over May.
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But the second factor is a belief that in the last election, Arlene Foster, their leader, flopped on the campaign trail with what was widely derided as a “fear” message about the consequences of the snap election instead of taking responsibility for involvement in the “cash for ash” scandal. That when the votes were cast, the Unionist majority at Stormont was wiped out means that message will have greater resonance next time than it did last time, or at least, that’s how the theory runs.
Who’s right? Who knows. But for Theresa May, it further ups the stakes for a good Brexit deal, particularly as far as the Irish border is concerned. A lot of the focus – including the PM’s – is on her trip to Scotland and the stresses on that part of the Union. It may be that Unionism is in greater immediate danger in Belfast than Edinburgh.