Brexit impact: 2nd Northern Ireland election in one year
Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, Belfast
Northern Ireland’s parliament buildings, the Stormont, the corner stone of the Good Friday agreement not functioning properly for months. A last ditch attempt last week to elect a speaker and form a power sharing government fell through.
First minister-designate, Sinn Fein’s Michael O’Neill did not mince her words.
The Unionists, who want NI to remain part of the UK say they won’t enter power-sharing unless the Northern Ireland Protocol is scrapped.
The problem he’s talking about lies in these dark blue waters. This is Irish Sea border for trade enshrined in the Northern Ireland Protocol parts of the EU withdrawal deal created to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the republic of Ireland. Westminster now says it’s prepared to change parts of it but to the EU that is anathema.
The EU has proposed ways to make the protocol work, but they were turned down by the UK government which has vowed unilateral action. But while the Unionists say this is all about their position in the United Kingdom, others say there’s more to the story.
There’s the political theatre at Stormont and Westminster, and there’s the reality for those grappling with the cost of living and energy crisis induced by Brexit and the western-backed war in Ukraine. Unless there is compromise, it’s difficult to see what another election costing six and a half million pounds will achieve because the protocol problem will still exist and so will the threat to the Good Friday Agreement.
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