Unionist leadership crisis puts N.Irish govt in doubt

Northern Irish politics were in disarray on Friday, with the future of the fragile power-sharing executive in doubt after the region’s largest party entered self-destruct mode in a Brexit-charged melodrama.

Edwin Poots, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), resigned late Thursday just hours after personally installing regional lawmaker Paul Givan as the British province’s new first minister.

Poots, 56, spent just three weeks at the helm of the hardline pro-UK party after brutally ousting predecessor Arlene Foster in a coup centred on her handling of Brexit.

Poots and Givan, 39, had been touted as fresh, uncompromising figures on a mission to tear down special post-Brexit trade arrangements known as the “Northern Ireland protocol”.

But after Poots compromised with opposing pro-Ireland party Sinn Fein to install Givan in office, he became the latest victim of a DUP political putsch.

A summit between Givan and Irish leaders on Friday was swiftly cancelled and his power is now in question after less than 24 hours.

If he leaves office, the power-sharing executive in Belfast will cease to function.

There are fears the crisis could prompt a snap election or a longstanding collapse of the regional government, which was resurrected after a three-year hiatus in January 2020.

The political pandemonium has arrived at a febrile time in Northern Ireland, home to 1.9 million people.

In April the province was wracked by a week of rioting fuelled by unionist anger over the “protocol” and there are fears unrest will reignite in July, when tensions are often high due to annual marches by hardline unionists.

“The last thing politics in Northern Ireland need now is the largest party in a very divided and uncertain place,” said Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney.

“What’s needed now is stability and political leadership, as opposed to an election at a time of real polarisation and tension across Northern Ireland,” he told Irish state broadcaster RTE.

“Tension linked to the implementation of the protocol and the fallout from Brexit is still very live across Northern Ireland, and we all have an obligation to try to calm those tensions.”

– Unionism in crisis –

Northern Ireland is split between pro-UK unionists and pro-Ireland nationalists, a constitutional conflict at the heart of “The Troubles” which killed 3,500 over 30 years.

A 1998 peace deal means the two sides must share power, but politics is a highwire balancing act freighted with the threat of a backslide to violence.

Unionists have historically been in the majority — politically and demographically — however the movement is in the midst of a crisis hypercharged by Brexit.

Pro-UK factions are losing their grip on regional and national parliamentary power, and there are signs they may soon be outnumbered by nationalists seeking to merge with the Republic of Ireland.

A hardline faction of unionism is increasingly unwilling to make political concessions to nationalists they feel are orchestrating a slow slide towards a united Ireland.

Many unionists consider the post-Brexit protocol one such concession, which is warping their place in the United Kingdom with England, Scotland and Wales.

The protocol was designed to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland — a frequently bloody flashpoint in “The Troubles”.

Since January, it has achieved that by keeping the province effectively inside the EU customs union and single market for goods.

However many unionists consider new checks at Northern Irish ports as a barrier to Britain and an affront to their identity.

In his first and only visit to Dublin as leader earlier this month, Poots told reporters the protocol “is not deliverable and must go”.

But in a striking irony, Poots was undone after perceptions among colleagues that he made an overeasy concession to nationalist Sinn Fein.

The party had refused to enter government with the DUP unless it promised to pass long-standing legislation for Irish language speakers.

Poots agreed to put Givan in power after the UK government in London stepped in to guarantee the legislation.