Northern Ireland local elections overshadowed by Brexit deadlock

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Voters in Northern Ireland head to the polls on Thursday in council elections expected to be about potholes and dustbins but have been overshadowed by a Brexit deadlock that has paralyzed politics in the region for a year.

The Nationalist Sinn Fein The party is vying to repeat its success in last May’s regional assembly elections, aiming to overtake the Democratic Unionist Party as the largest local government party in voting for 462 seats in the region’s 11 councils.

But the DUP, which wants the region to remain part of the UK, has sought to turn the council election into a proxy vote to push for more changes to Northern Ireland’s recently renewed post-Brexit trade deals.

Following the electoral success of Sinn Féin last year, which supports the reunification of Ireland, the DUP boycotted the assembly and the power-sharing executive at Stormont in protest against the Brexit deal for the region.

Unionist politicians oppose post-Brexit trade deals because Northern Ireland is treated differently to the rest of the UK, which left the EU’s single market and customs union in January 2021.

The DUP says the Windsor framework, agreed by London and Brussels this year in a bid to streamline post-Brexit trade, doesn’t go far enough because it still leaves Northern Ireland subject to EU trade rules.

After finishing third in last year’s Stormont elections, the Alliance party – which does not identify with any of Northern Ireland’s traditional nationalist or unionist communities – is racing to consolidate its position as an emerging force.

Naomi Long, leader of the Alliance, said it was “more vital than ever to get out to vote and send a message that the buy-back policy is not acceptable”. Full election results are not expected until well into the weekend.

As well as trying to remain the dominant party in local councils, the DUP also hopes it can avoid losing votes to the Traditional Unionist Voice party, whose position on the Windsor board is even more hardline.

Peter Robinson, former DUP prime minister, urged unionists not to “dilute unionist negotiating strength when it is most needed”.

Chris Heaton-Harris, the UK’s Northern Ireland secretary, has vowed to introduce legislation to strengthen the region’s place within the UK in order to allay unionist concerns after Brexit puts a customs border in the Irish Sea.

A senior British official said Heaton-Harris had not introduced the promised legislation because it was not yet clear exactly what the DUP would satisfy.

The election comes against a backdrop of severe cuts to public services, including funding for care posts, integrated education and youth clubs, in a region that already has the longest waiting lists for health services in the UK and extensively he spent more than his budget last year.

London is hoping the DUP can return to Stormont quickly, but many experts believe nothing will happen until after the union march season in the month of July. Even officials acknowledge, however, that a financial softener for the region is likely to be part of any deal to restore Stormont.

DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said Heaton-Harris was trying to ‘force trade unionists back into the Northern Ireland assembly’ by setting a tough budget for the region, adding: ‘But . . . his strategy is failing.