John Walsh: Unionists should be careful what they wish for

Seeking an end to the current Stormont power-sharing arrangement would surely backfire, and the unionist demand that the protocol must go could ultimately destroy the union

The UUP under leader Doug Beattie has been assiduously courting the middle ground. Picture: Getty

The end of power-sharing in Northern Ireland could well be nigh. Doug Beattie, the head of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was the first to call for an end to mandatory cross-party coalitions at his party’s conference last weekend. He is unlikely to be the last.

The reality is that the Northern Ireland protocol has widened tensions between nationalist and unionist parties to the point where power-sharing is effectively unworkable.

Power-sharing is a cornerstone of ...