Serving the people of Northern Ireland has been the “privilege of his life”. the Northern Irish Prime Minister Paul Givan (unionist) resigned on Thursday. His decision was motivated by the discontent of his camp against the post-Brexit customs provisions, accused of threatening the place of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.
A new political crisis and a period of uncertainty are opening in Northern Ireland, as London and Brussels are engaged in intense discussions on the Northern Irish protocol, which introduced these controversial controls.
Upheaval of power
In a statement posted on Twitter, Paul Givan thanked the people of Northern Ireland and said serving them had been the “privilege of his life”.
The privilege of my life time to serve the people of Northern Ireland. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/2NrXMrKDAq
— Paul Givan (@paulgivan) February 3, 2022
His departure mechanically leads to the fall of Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill, of the republican party Sinn Fein with which the unionists of the DUP share power.
A “disappointing” resignation
In the aftermath, the British Minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, said he was “extremely disappointed” and urged the DUP to “immediately” reinstate the Northern Irish Prime Minister.
My statement on the resignation of Northern Ireland’s First Minister 👇https://t.co/01pzPb5SCW pic.twitter.com/LR497nMOeA
—Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) February 3, 2022
“The UK Government’s priority is to see a Northern Irish Executive that works for a better, more prosperous and shared future for all the people of Northern Ireland,” he added.
A “threat to the union” in Ireland
Designed to prevent the re-establishment of a physical border with neighboring Ireland which would risk weakening the peace concluded in 1998 after three decades of bloody clashes between Unionists and Republicans, the Northern Irish protocol keeps the British province in the single market and European customs union.
“Now is the time to say enough,” said DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, for whom the Northern Irish protocol represents “an existential threat to the union and the future of Northern Ireland within from the United Kingdom “. For her part, Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Fein, in favor of the attachment of Northern Ireland to the neighboring Republic of Ireland, called for the holding of elections without waiting for the ballot scheduled for May.