Sinn Fein triumph does NOT signal death knell for the UK, say ministers
MINISTERS last night insisted they were confident of stopping the break-up of the Union – even as Sinn Fein was set to be declared the winner of elections in Northern Ireland.
The republican party was on course to become the largest at the Stormont assembly for the first time, giving it the right to nominate the First Minister.
Its deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, was set to take up the post, though there are fears the Democratic Unionist Party could block the restoration of a power-sharing arrangement by refusing to nominate a Deputy First Minister.
The DUP has also said it would not join the executive until rows over Brexit trade arrangements have been resolved.
With 24 out of 90 results declared, Sinn Fein was clearly ahead on first preference votes in the complicated single transferable vote system.
The republicans were on 29 per cent of first preference votes, an increase of 1.1 percentage points on 2017. The DUP was down to 21.3 per cent on first preference votes, a fall of 6.7 percentage points.
Of the 24 seats declared, Sinn Fein had 16, the DUP, two, the Alliance Party, which polled strongly, two, the nationalist SDLP, two, and other unionist parties, two. The early results benefit Sinn Fein because of the way the STV system works.
The DUP since 2002 – and the Ulster Unionists before them – were the biggest party at the Stormont assembly, set up under the Good Friday Agreement, which brought the Troubles to an end after three decades and 3,600 killings.
Sinn Fein is also ahead in the polls in the Irish Republic, where it is the main opposition party, rasing the prospect of it working towards its goal of a united Ireland from north and south.
Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden said yesterday he was confident the Government can ‘make the case’ for Northern Ireland remaining in the UK.
Asked on Sky News if Boris Johnson could become the Prime Minister who oversees the break-up of the UK, Mr Dowden said: ‘If there is a sustained majority of nationalist opinion in favour of a united Ireland, that would have to be put forward in a referendum.
‘That’s beyond the power of the United Kingdom Government. We would have to allow that to happen were it the case.
‘But I’m confident that we will be able to make the case for Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom should that arise, but I don’t think we’re at that stage.’
DUP MP Ian Paisley, the son of the party’s late founder, said there would be no devolved government while issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol, designed to avoid the need for a hard border, remain unresolved. It has led to fears that the province’s place in the UK is being undermined.
Boris Johnson said: ‘The most important thing is that we continue to support the balance of the Good Friday Agreement across all communities.’