Sinn Fein celebrate huge win
BY NIGEL NELSON
SINN Fein stormed to a historic victory to capture most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday – and brought the break-up of the UK a step closer.
The party’s Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill, 45, will become Northern Ireland First Minister.
She said: “Today ushers in a new era. Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds, my commitment is to make politics work.” Hailing “the election of a generation”, she added: “The people have told us during the course of this election that they expect us to work together. The people are right.”
But a power-sharing deal remains in jeopardy because DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says his unionists will not join in until Northern
Ireland’s post-Brexit position with the EU is sorted out.
That is down to Boris Johnson, who is trying to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol which keeps the country tied to EU rules to ensure the border with the Republic stays open.
Sinn Fein kept its republican aims largely out of the campaign, but the party – once the political arm of the murderous IRA – plans to hold a poll on a united Ireland within five years. And that boosts SNP ambitions to see Scotland go it alone.
Other election results were dire for Boris Johnson. His Tories lost nearly 500 seats in England, Wales and Scotland. Labour captured a few Tory councils but the big winners were the Lib Dems with 220 new councillors.