UK voters head to polls with N. Ireland result predicted
POOR RESULTS COULD REIGNITE DISCONTENT WITHIN JOHNSON’S RULING PARTY
Local and regional elections were being held across the United Kingdom yesterday 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, expected from today, could have huge constitutional implications for the four-nation UK’s future, with predicted victors Sinn Fein committed to a vote on reunification with Ireland.
Voters are electing councils in Scotland, Wales and much of England, 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.
Jeopardy
Voters are electing councils in Scotland, Wales and much of England, with Johnson facing a potentially pivotal midterm popularity test.
The prime minister voted in central London, while the main UK opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer cast his ballot in the north of the capital with his wife, Victoria.
Johnson, 57, won a landslide 2019 general election victory by vowing to take the United Kingdom 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 lockdown-breaking parties at his Downing Street office and the steeply rising cost of living.
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 Labour poses a serious threat, as it tries to make inroads across England.
Labour is bidding to leapfrog the Conservatives into second place in Scotland, behind the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), 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 Tuesday it remained on target to win comfortably with over a quarter of the vote.
‘Not fixated’
Sinn Fein — the IRA’s former political wing — has dialled down its calls for Irish unity during campaigning, saying it is “not fixated” on a date for a sovereignty poll, instead focusing on the rising cost of living and other local issues.
Party vice-president Michelle O’Neill has insisted voters are “looking towards the future” with pragmatism rather than the dogmatism that has long been the hallmark of Northern Irish politics.
But her DUP rivals have sought to keep the spotlight on possible Irish reunification.
In February, its first minister withdrew from the powersharing government in protest at post-Brexit trade arrangements, prompting its collapse.
At a final election debate between the five biggest parties, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson reiterated the party would not form a new executive unless London rips up the trading terms, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Although many unionist voters share DUP dislike for it, the party is also getting blamed. In England, the Conservatives are predicted to lose hundreds of councillors and even control of long-time strongholds in London to Labour.
‘Partygate’ scandal
Johnson has tried to sideline the so-called “partygate” scandal that last month saw him become the first British prime minister to be fined for breaking the law while in office.
In Scotland, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is hoping a strong performance in contests for all 32 local authorities can lay the groundwork for another independence referendum.