Here’s democracy: The Democratic Unionist Party, recently elected as the second biggest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, have just prohibited the same Assembly from doing any work.
The Assembly, a local state government, has responsibility for a wide range of things including health, social welfare and the local economy; all things that might need a hand on the tiller during a cost of living crisis. It does not have any powers over international relations, under which falls the infamous Northern Ireland Protocol (managing how NI trades with the world). This is the responsibility of the national government in London.
The DUP don’t like the Northern Ireland Protocol. The DUP has MPs in the the London (Westminster) parliament. The Conservative government controls dealings on the NI Protocol. The Conservatives don’t sit in the NI Assembly. The NI Assembly has no powers over the NI Protocol (did I mention that?).
The DUP have refused to elect a ‘speaker’ to the NI Assembly, which means it can’t do any work (on things like health, social welfare and the local economy), because they don’t like the NI Protocol… over which the NI Assembly has no powers.
Is this beginning to sound repetitive? Welcome to Northern Ireland.