The DUP now wields decisive power at Westminster
By Ray O’Hanlon
The chips have fallen where they may.
And not to the liking of British Prime Minister Theresa May who must now depend on the Democratic Unionist Party to prop up her government at Westminster.
May’s snap election snapped back at her with an extraordinary array of outcomes across the UK electoral map.
That part of the UK that is Northern Ireland now looks like two countries with the south, south west and west of the six counties entirely in the hands of Sinn Féin, and the area east of the Bann entirely under the control of the DUP.
The exception to this is West Belfast which now looks not unlike West Berlin in the days of a divided Germany.
Sinn Féin’s Paul Maskey won West Belfast with a record tally of 27,101 votes.
The DUP had as good an election as they could expect winning ten Westminster seats.
The same goes for Sinn Féin which won seven seats.
The one other North Westminster seat went to an independent unionist.
The SDLP and UUP were wiped out, the former losing its three House of Commons seats.
Northern Ireland now looks like a two party political entity with the ten DUP members suddenly finding themselves the kingmakers in London.
Sinn Féin’s northern leader, Michelle O’Neill, confirmed that the party would continue its policy of abstaining and would not take its seats in the Commons - this despite a distribution of seats that would give the party considerable influence.
The election ended in a hung parliament, but the Conservatives remain the largest party with 318 seats. Labour, led by Jeremy Corbyn, who has supported Sinn Féin down the years, have 261 with 326 required for a majority.
The ten DUP MPs will now provide that majority to the Conservatives.
The Westminster election, it should be noted, is separate to the North Assembly election which took place earlier this year.
The Assembly vote is under proportional representation rules while the Westminster vote is first past the post.
