Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein accuses British government of supporting Stormont block

Sinn Fein has accused the British government of conniving with the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) to deliberately block power-sharing at Stormont.

The step comes a day after politics in Northern Ireland ground to a halt when the DUP, which seeks closer ties to London, blocked the election of a speaker, a move that will keep the assembly from functioning amid a fight about Brexit and its affect on the province.

Politics are already in flux after Sinn Fein, a party that prefers closer ties to Ireland, was the big winner in recent elections. But Brexit continues to reverberate through the region’s politics, due to lingering rage about a deal hammered out between Britain and the European Union that has kept Northern Ireland in the EU’s trading sphere, complicating and slowing trade to Britain.

The situation is almost intolerable to the DUP, which prizes its role as part of the United Kingdom and distrusts closer ties to Ireland.

The deal – known as the Northern Ireland Protocol – was drawn up to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, out of fear that setting up border and trade controls there would undo more than two decades of work towards peace by enraging Northern Ireland residents who want to keep close ties to Ireland.

But that has left the traditionally Protestant DUP feeling left out in the cold. London has also latched on to the issue and threatened to tear up the protocol, even though it was agreed to by the sitting government and even though such an act might be illegal. It also risks worsening already unsteady ties between Britain and the EU.

All that played into the DUP’s move to block the speaker’s election, keeping empty a position that must be filled if fundamental parts of the legislature’s work is to be done.