BoJo sweats as UK goes to polls

TRIGGER: LOCAL, REGIONAL ELECTIONS TIPPING POINT

►► Sinn Fein looks set to oust Tories in Northern Ireland.

Polls opened across the UK yesterday in local and regional elections that could prove historic in Northern Ireland and heap further pressure on embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The contest for the devolved Assembly in Belfast could see a pro-Irish nationalist party win for the first time in the troubled history of the British province.

The results could have huge constitutional implications for the four-nation UK’s future, with predicted victors Sinn Fein committed to a vote in the province on reunification with Ireland.

Polls opened with Johnson facing a potentially pivotal midterm popularity test. Poor results could reignite simmering discontent within his ruling Conservatives about his leadership, after a string of recent scandals.

Johnson, 57, won a landslide 2019 general election victory by vowing to take Britain out of the European Union and reverse rampant regional inequality.

Despite making good on his Brexit pledge, the pandemic largely stalled his domestic plans.

But his position has been put in jeopardy because of anger at revelations of lockdown-breaking parties at his Downing Street office and a cost-of-living crisis.

Heavy losses could revive calls among Tory MPs to trigger an internal contest to oust Johnson as party leader and from power.

The polls should also point to whether the main opposition Labour party poses a serious threat, as it tries to make inroads across England and defending the gains it made at the 2018 local elections.

Labour is bidding to leapfrog the Conservatives into second place in Scotland, behind the pro-independence Scottish National Party, and remain the largest party in Wales, where 16 and 17 year olds are eligible to vote for the first time.

The contest for Northern Ireland’s power-sharing assembly is set to capture attention after numerous polls put Sinn Fein ahead.

A University of Liverpool poll reported this week it remained on target to win comfortably with over a quarter of the vote.

Deirdre Heenan, professor of social policy at Ulster University, said there was a feeling the election “really is momentous”.

Sinn Fein, the IRA’s former political wing, has dialled down its calls for Irish unity, saying it is “not fixated” on a date for a sovereignty poll, instead focusing on the rising cost of living and other local issues. –