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Brexit crisis pushes N. Ireland to brink of new election

By JILL LAWLESS and DANICA KIRKA, JILL LAWLESS and DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press
Published: October 27, 2022, 8:21am

LONDON (AP) — The Northern Ireland Assembly failed to elect a speaker Thursday, setting the stage for an early election amid the impasse over border controls required following Britain’s exit from the European Union.

The vote came after a last-ditch attempt Thursday to break the deadlock caused by disagreements over implementation of the Brexit deal, which have prevented the formation of a functioning government in Belfast since the last election in May.

The U.K. government has said it will call a new election for the assembly on Friday if a power-sharing government is not in place by midnight. Naming an assembly speaker is a necessary first step toward restoring power sharing between parties that favor closer ties with the rest of the United Kingdom and those that back closer ties with the Republic of Ireland.

Earlier, the leader of the the main British unionist party, Jeffrey Donaldson, said not enough progress has been made on addressing issues of concern about the part of the Brexit deal that governs trade with Northern Ireland.

“We were given a clear mandate in the Assembly elections, and we would not nominate ministers to an executive until decisive action is taken on the protocol to remove the barriers to trade within our own country and to restore our place within the United Kingdom internal market,” he said. “That remains our position and so today we will not be supporting the nomination of ministers to the executive.”

If no executive is in place by early Friday, there will be a new election.

“I have consistently been clear that if the executive is not formed by Oct. 28, I will call an election,” U.K. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said. “Time is running out, and people in Northern Ireland deserve locally elected decision-makers and an executive who can respond to the issues facing people, families and communities across Northern Ireland during this challenging time.”

Rishi Sunak, the U.K.’s new prime minister has urged the unionists to return to the power-sharing government, housed at the seat of Northern Ireland’s government in Stormont, before the midnight deadline.

“There’s still time for the DUP and executives to get back to Stormont and we urge them to do so because the people of Northern Ireland deserve a fully functioning and locally elected executive which can respond to the issues facing the communities there,” Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters.

The crisis comes at a time of change in Northern Ireland, which has been led by Protestant unionists loyal to the United Kingdom since its formation in 1921. In May’s election, Sinn Fein — which seeks Northern Ireland’s union with Ireland — became the largest party in the 90-seat assembly, entitled to the post of first minister. The DUP came second.

Sinn Fein’s Northern Ireland leader Michelle O’Neill said voters wanted “grown-up politicians” to grapple with a worsening cost-of-living crisis.

“People need to know that we have their backs,” she said, accusing the DUP of wanting to turn the clock back to “yesterday.”

Northern Ireland is the only part of the U.K. that shares a border with an EU member — Ireland. When Britain left the bloc in 2020, the two sides agreed to keep the Irish border free of customs posts and other checks because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland. Instead, there are checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.

That solution has spiraled into a political crisis, with unionist politicians refusing to form a government because they see the checks as undermining their British identity and Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. While the DUP wants the Brexit protocol scrapped, most other parties in Northern Ireland want to keep it, with tweaks to ease the burden on businesses.

Earlier this year, the U.K. government of then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced legislation to suspend the checks and rip up part of its legally binding Brexit treaty with the EU. The unilateral move brought legal action from the EU and the risk of an all-out trade war.

After Johnson’s departure last month, the U.K. refused to drop the treaty-breaching bill, which is going through Parliament. But Britain and the EU have also restarted talks on a negotiated solution, and Sunak’s appointment this week has raised hopes of a thaw in relations.

Sunak spoke Wednesday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a call that both sides described as positive.

Follow all AP stories on politics in Britain at https://apnews.com/hub/britain-politics.

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