Westminster Forced to Call Elections in Northern Ireland amid Brexit Trade Clash

The Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont failed to reach a power-sharing agreement for its executive amid Brexit trade controversy. The stalemate necessitated the Northern Ireland Minister to call for snap elections to be held within 12 weeks. (Flickr)

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly failed to elect an executive on October 27 after its feuding political parties refused to enter into a power-sharing agreement for the second time in seven months. However, the devolved assembly has been without a governing executive since elections in May 2022 after the pro-union Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and pro-Irish Sinn Fein party failed to agree to share power. The special Stormont meeting this past week was intended to break the political stalemate, but instead, after this most recent failure, London will be legally obliged to call a second round of elections for the assembly in Northern Ireland.

The makeup of the Northern Ireland Assembly necessitates power-sharing between British unionists and Irish nationalists in the composition of its executive—the most recent assembly failed to achieve this composition. In the May elections, the Sinn Fein party became the dominant party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, whereas the Democratic Unionist Party fell dramatically from its position in 2017. Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein would have become the first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly executive if an agreement were to be reached. 

The DUP rejected agreements during the most recent Stormont meeting as a means of protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol. The joint agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom concerning trade on the Irish island following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. The Protocol was agreed upon in January 2020 and went into effect the following year, but it required special care to craft. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement signed between the United Kingdom and Ireland necessitated the prevention of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland—a key basis of peace on the island following 30 years of sectarian violence. Brexit has since challenged the feasibility of maintaining open borders on the island, as Ireland remains a member of the European Union and beneficiary of its customs and trade unions. The agreed Northern Ireland Protocol stipulates that goods entering and exiting the Irish island be subject to EU trade regulations—a policy to which Northern Irish pro-union parties like the DUP strongly object.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson maintains that the party will not enter into a power-sharing agreement until the Northern Ireland Protocol is reformed or overhauled entirely. New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the assembly to “get back to Stormont” to establish an executive before the midnight deadline on October 28 required the Parliament to call a new election. In the meantime, civil servants will step in for former ministers, and a snap election must take place within 12 weeks, tentatively set for December 15. With Sunak’s ascension to the British premiership and new talks between the United Kingdom and the European Union, there are hopes that relations will thaw, paving the way for compromise in Northern Ireland. However, if British politics in 2022 are to be taken as standard, hopes for stability and compromise will be short-lived at best.