Northern Ireland faces vote to break Brexit impasse

Northern Ireland is set for a second election this year after the biggest unionist party again prevented the region’s government from forming, amid a row over post-Brexit trade rules that has major implications for the UK.

The Democratic Unionist Party stopped the election of an Assembly Speaker and prevented the election of an Executive for a fourth time Thursday, after a last-ditch attempt by other parties to appoint one ahead of a midnight deadline.

The UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary Christopher Heaton-Harris has said an election would be called if the region’s power-sharing government is not restored in time, with Dec. 15 seen as a likely date.

It’s the latest development in a long-running political impasse in Northern Ireland, after the Brexit deal signed between the UK and European Union exacerbated tensions in the region. The decision to keep Northern Ireland in the bloc’s single market — which both sides agreed was necessary to avoid a border on the island of Ireland — angered unionists who say it undermines the region’s trade and political ties to the rest of mainland Britain.

The DUP has refused to participate in the region’s government since February having made their involvement conditional on the UK scrapping that part of the Brexit deal, which is known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It presents a significant political headache for the UK government in London, which has re-started negotiations with the EU on trying to fix the protocol for the first time in eight months and had hoped to use the prospect of a deal to persuade the DUP to re-form the government.

There’s also potential for diplomatic tensions if an election does not result in the restoration of a power-sharing regional government. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Northern Ireland should not return to direct rule from the UK as has been the case in the past.

—Bloomberg