He institutional blockade in which it is located North Ireland remains far from being resolved two years after the departure of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of the Government. London’s repeated attempts to resume the normal functioning of the Belfast Parliament (Stormont) have so far fallen on deaf ears, despite the fact that the political and economic situation in the nation it is increasingly worrying. The protests this week by thousands of public workers have added more pressure to the unionists, who continue to opt for the blocking in response to the agreements reached between the British Government and the European Union to guarantee the absence of a physical border between the two Irelands.
The DUP MPs They have again prevented the appointment of the President of Parliament this week, despite the fact that the deadline imposed by the Government in London expired on Thursday. The unionists insist that both the signing of the Northern Ireland Protocol and the later Windsor Framework – which aims to establish controls on goods in the Irish Sea only for products destined for the EU – are not acceptable because do not offer enough clarity regarding the protection of Northern Ireland in the internal market of the United Kingdom. The DUP unionists left the Belfast Government in February 2022 in protest and caused its dissolution, a situation that continues to this day despite citizen mobilization.
Low minimum services
The British Minister for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, has announced that it will seek a “pragmatic, adequate and limited” way to respond to this blockade, although for now it has ruled out taking full powers over the nation, as well as calling elections. Among the options that London is considering is provide greater flexibility to officials to make decisions on spending, in the absence of a regional Government, and thus try to stop protests increasing numbers of public workers, including teachers and nurses, who continue with the frozen salaries due to the blockade of the Stormont Government and Parliament.
The main unions have promoted this week one of the largest demonstrations of recent years. Nearly 150,000 workers They gathered this Thursday in the streets of Belfast and the main cities to denounce the degradation of public services such as education or health and to demand the return to institutional normality. “[La manifestación de] today is just the beginning. If we do not achieve social and economic justice, the fight will continue. Today is a general strike of the public sector, but tomorrow it will be a general strike of all workers,” the general secretary of the Nipsa union warned this Thursday. Patrick Mulholland.
“Political blackmail”
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The British Government has offered 3.3 billion pounds (3.8 billion euros) to increase the salaries of public servants in Northern Ireland, but has insisted that will only give the money if it comes to an end to the institutional blockade. “I continue to believe that a fully functioning Northern Irish Executive is best placed to act quickly and effectively to resolve these issues,” Heaton-Harris said in a statement this week. A situation that does not seem viable, at least for now. The victory of the Sinn Féin republicans in the last regional elections has put even more reasons on the table for the unionists to avoid unblocking the situation, despite the fact that power in Belfast is shared between the two factions, as established in the Good Friday agreements.
DUP Vice President Gavin Robinsonhas described the British Government’s proposal as “an outrageously cruel act of political blackmail“and recalled that the main priority of his party is to respond to the concerns of unionists about the Brexit trade agreements. The party, which met its board this Friday to analyze the situation, has insisted that it needs legislative guarantees that protect Northern Ireland in the internal market of the United Kingdom, although more and more internal voices are betting on reaching an agreement with London as soon as possible to end an institutional blockade which is suffocating Northern Irish workers and weakening public services.