Nfter the election victory of the nationalist party Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, tensions between London and the EU threaten to increase. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has increased pressure on Brussels to drastically change or abolish the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol, which is part of the Brexit deal, according to newspaper reports. The government in London argues with the “preservation of peace and stability” in the province, which has been marked by civil war for many years. There are threats of “unilateral steps” if a solution is not found quickly. The Brexit treaty gives Northern Ireland a special status and has created a goods border with Great Britain.
The background to the intensified tone is the refusal of the unionist party DUP to form a government with Sinn Fein until the protocol is changed. The DUP, which had provided Northern Ireland’s First Minister since 2007, fell to second place in Thursday’s election and would now have to nominate the deputy prime minister to enable a power-sharing agreement in Belfast.
Good Friday Agreement undermined?
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson pointed out over the weekend that 40 percent of voters supported parties opposed to the protocol. Since a Northern Ireland government must be based on “bipartisan consensus”, there is currently no working basis. For the first time, Sinn Fein will have the largest group in the 90-seat parliament and will be represented by 27 MPs. The DUP has only 25 seats left. The Alliance Party, which sees itself as a cross-camp, also recorded strong gains with 17 seats. Overall, nationalists and unionists are about equally strong in the chamber.
The Foreign Ministry in London said at the weekend that the negotiations had “reached the end of the road” since EU negotiator Maroš Šefčovič Truss decided by telephone at the end of April that the EU had no mandate to change the Brexit treaty. The Good Friday Agreement, which ended the civil war in 1998, was “undermined” by the protocol, and the situation was now “very serious,” it said. “Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have always made it clear that if no solutions can be found, action will be taken.”
Beergate probe into Labor leader Starmer
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on British opposition leader Keir Starmer, who is facing allegations of breaking corona rules. After the police in Durham, northern England, confirmed at the weekend that they were investigating Beergate, there were calls for his resignation. Starmer is baffled for calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign after London police launched an investigation into ‘Partygate’. At the same time, a Labor Party schedule played to the press cast doubt on Starmer’s previous account. According to the plan, 80 minutes had been allocated for eating and drinking at the end of the day.
Starmer previously claimed to have “only briefly interrupted” an event at the Durham campaign office in April last year to strengthen himself with colleagues. At the meeting, he was filmed in a small room surrounded by employees with a beer in hand. While conservative politicians accused the leader of the opposition of “hypocrisy”, he was defended from within his own ranks. It was “ridiculous” to compare Starmer’s cautiously to that of the Prime Minister, the Labor Party said.