How Is The Election Playing Out In Northern Ireland?

If Britain now has a five-party system – Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and Greens – then so does Northern Ireland, though with completely different major participants.

- SEAN O'GRADY

There are now two principal unionist parties – the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which was founded by Ian Paisley, and the older (and smaller) Ulster Unionist party (UUP).

On the non-unionist side we find a nationalist party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and the now dominant republican movement, Sinn Fein. Non-aligned or neutral on the issue of a united Ireland is the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, which has enjoyed sustained growth during the powersharing era.

In the six counties, even a quarter of a century since the end of the Troubles, the “national” or “constitutional” issue still exerts some influence on loyalties – in part, a consequence of Brexit reawakening some older controversies about the border on the island of Ireland and the strength of the economic union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

This is well demonstrated in the latest manifesto to be published – that of the DUP. They once again pledge to remove the postBrexit trade barriers, the so-called economic border in the Irish Sea, though they don’t explicitly reject the Windsor Framework agreed between the UK and the EU, which governs these border issues.

Does the election in Northern Ireland matter?

Well, to the people of Northern Ireland it does, the same as anywhere else – and they, more than most, have a particular interest in how Brexit has affected their lives. The country voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, being more conscious than other parts of the UK of the difficult complications that would follow.

On the other hand, the DUP – usually the strongest party – was staunchly pro-Leave, and has been living with the uncomfortable consequences ever since, basically being against any borders between parts of the British Isles.