Dealing With The DUP

The DUP, as expected, came second in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.  The DUP, as expected, has said it will not take up its positions in the Northern Ireland Executive.  On the one hand, they say this is because they will not do so, unless the British government scraps the Northern Ireland Protocol.  There seems little chance of that happening, because were it to do so, it would mean a trade war with the EU at a time when NATO's economic war with Russia is pushing prices through the roof, and causing frictions and bottlenecks that add to the problems already caused by Brexit.  On the other hand, there is the suspicion that the DUP does not want to take up positions playing second fiddle to Sinn Fein.

The reality is that the basis of power-sharing was flawed from the beginning.  it institutionalises sectarian divisions in a province that was already split by sectarian division.  In fact, what the last few years have shown is that the historic sectarian divisions have declined, and its the institutionalised sectarianism of the power-sharing executive that now acts to prolong them.  Not only did the DUP lose its primary position, but the Unionist vote itself was split in several ways, some of it going to the UUP, some to TUV, and others to the Alliance.  That split is what enabled Sinn Fein to come out on top, even though its own representation barley changed.

The DUP, of course, supported the Brexit that is now causing it so much trouble, and causing the people of Northern Ireland more trouble in general.  Its the same trouble that is causing the United Kingdom itself to break apart.  The DUP supported Boris Johnson who put in place the Brexit deal that Theresa May had rejected following opposition from the DUP, which puts a border down the Irish Sea.  Johnson proclaimed that deal, and its centrepiece of the Northern Ireland Protocol as a great deal, with all of the labels of oven ready and so on.  Of course he and his government wanted immediately to flout it, because that is what they do, and because they are weak compared to the EU, when the EU refused to allow them to flout it, they wanted to renegotiate this wonderful deal that they had proposed.  But, there is no chance of any such renegotiation either.

Nor indeed, do the voters in Northern Ireland want any such renegotiation.  They have throughout been unmoved by the issue, despite DUP politicians trying to stir up antagonism towards it, and empty threats of communal violence if its was not scrapped.  Indeed, the majority of votes (54%) went to parties that support the EU, and opposed Brexit.  So, its not surprising that the majority do not feel any great sympathy for the DUP's attempts to push for an even harder Brexit, which is what would result from scrapping the Protocol.

The easiest solution, of course, would be to recognise reality and rationality, and move quickly towards a United Ireland.   The reality already is that economically there is a United Ireland that is within the EU, and it is moving inexorably away from the UK.  But, political inertia prevents that from happening quickly.  What is possible, however, is to scrap the sectarian basis of the power-sharing executive, given the DUP's refusal to take part in it.

The immediate simple answer is to say to the DUP that if they are not going to take up their position, then those positions will go to the next largest party, which is the Alliance Party.  Alliance is the Northern Ireland equivalent of the Liberal Democrats in the rest of Britain, and like the Liberals, it was the largest gainer in the elections, itself again reflecting the support for pro-EU parties, and a rejection of the nationalism of Labour and Tories.

A Northern Ireland Executive made up of politicians from Sinn Fein and Alliance would reflect that majority support for the EU in Northern Ireland, and created better conditions for closer ties with the Republic and the rest of the EU.  It would end all the nonsense about renegotiating let alone scrapping the Protocol.