Following Tuesday’s surprise announcement of a snap election in Britain, we saw some shocked reactions from politicians in the UK and Ireland.
by Joe Gorman
In lieu of throwing the toys out of the pram, Theresa May plans to grab all the toys and use them to beat Jeremy Corbyn to death.
Labour are in disarray and even though they gamely welcomed the election, they will lose this one badly.
This will give May the mandate she needs to follow through with her Brexit plans, but may have serious repercussions for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
May’s plan is simple: bury Labour and consolidate Tory power.
If the collateral damage for that is her popularity in Scotland and the North, then so be it. Even if William Wallace returned from the grave, he’d probably take a look at the fiscal prospects and realise that the English are going to beat him this time too.
The Scots and Irish are, for the most part, anti-austerity and anti-Brexit, which goes against May’s grain. She does not care if Nicola Sturgeon thinks the election is a “huge political miscalculation”, and probably cares even less about Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill’s opposition.
Will this election bring increased calls for a United Ireland? Almost certainly.
Michelle O’Neill’s plans to fight May on an anti-austerity, anti-Brexit standpoint will prove popular, as the Prime Minister seems intent on proving that she has no interest in the future of the North. Her popularity, soaring at 43%, is at Thatcher levels, and it is a calculated risk to disregard Northern Ireland.
The North is growing sick on the callousness of Britain, with even the most ardent Unionists wondering where their loyalties truly lie.
Stormont is left without administrative power, meaning that despite all efforts to form an assembly, we are probably looking at a return to direct rule for a period. Whether a lack of devolution will bring political revolution remains to be seen.
What does it mean for us? Not a whole lot, as of now.
Brexit is predicted by Donald Tusk and his team to proceed as expected regardless of the election and yes, it will still be awful for Ireland. May’s aggressive approach to the European divorce may be accelerated by her victory, which will come at a cost to our economy.
In political terms, May’s decision is likely to force a leadership vote in Fine Gael, which will result in a shootout between Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar to seize power. Once the snap election is decided, the fragile work of managing Brexit will be on their shoulders.
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