NEWS
10 February-March 2026
February-March 2026 PB
By Anton McCabe
Co-opted but not co-operative
Post-Troubles
leaders in Northern
Ireland are bad-
tempered and a bit
second-rate
The Troubles threw up
strong leaders. Today’s
are a bit forgettable
though they await the
judgement of history
T
o say the Executive has delivered
nothing since being restored two
years ago is sloganising. To say it
has failed to deliver significantly is
true. The most recent example was
when it emerged that hospital waiting lists
were three times Southern levels.
Ministers tend to operate in their own silos.
Relations between Sinn Féin and the DUP
have deteriorated. The approach of next year’s
Assembly and local government elections
moves parties towards election mode.
There is no sign of the Executive collapsing.
However, there is always a danger rhetoric
could build momentum.
Among weaknesses in the system is a lack
of electoral mandates. Deputy First Minister
Emma Little-Pengelly was co-opted, not
elected, to the Assembly. The Ulster Unionist
Party (UUP) will have a leader and deputy
leader who were both co-opted.
This is against a background where the five
big parties have had to deal with a situation
of relative peace. All grew from the upheavals
of the late 1960s. Last year was the first since
1968 with no deaths from political violence.
Sinn Féin and the DUP have been fairly
successful at reinventing themselves. Sinn
Féin has stolen the SDLP’s political clothes,
the DUP has stolen the UUP’s.
The current leaders reflect the dierent
times. The Troubles threw up strong leaders.
Today’s are a bit forgettable though they await
the judgement of history.
Michelle O’Neill is popular in the Nationalist
community. Dissidents have made no
significant inroads into Sinn Féin support.
O’Neill does not enjoy the same authority
among the Republican faithful as Gerry Adams
or Martin McGuinness. As the North’s first-
ever female First Minister, she is enjoying
a prolonged political honeymoon but that
cannot last indefinitely.
Gavin Robinson steadied his party at a
dicult time. He became DUP leader at short
notice after the arrest of Jerey Donaldson.
He has not been convicted of any oence
though the nature of the charges would cause
embarrassment for any party.
Robinson has pivoted the party slightly
rightwards. This is countering the growth of the
TUV (Traditional Unionist Voice). The language
in his speech at September’s DUP Conference
was hardline, resisting a united Ireland in his
lifetime while defending the advantages of
the power-sharing Executive over Westminster
rule. His party still spans traditionalist and
pragmatic wings. Two of the three DUP
Ministers at Stormont — Givan and Lyons —
sometimes seek out unnecessary controversy,
though their leader, Little-Pengelly, plays it
plausibly straight.
Meanwhile, Alliance has stalled. Calling
for power-sharing had been one of its main
planks. Alliance now complains, with some
justification, that power-sharing means Sinn
Féin and the DUP making decisions, then
presenting Alliance and UUP Ministers with
fait accomplis.
Alliance has made a certain shift from being
small-u unionist to being somewhat agnostic
on the Border. Its stock in trade is to stridently
criticise the other Executive parties, while two
Alliance ministers sit there and show no sign
of walking out.
As the SDLP weakens, Alliance is picking
up significant parts of that vote. That may
be at the cost of losing some, though fewer,
unionist-leaning supporters.
There are also old Alliance and new Alliance
wings. The old wing was religious, tending
to social conservativism. The new is socially
liberal. Naomi Long is now the longest-serving
leader of the five main parties. She has
successfully balanced the two tendencies.
However, she may be holding on too long. She
is an eective party leader but her record as
Justice Minister is less impressive.
The UUP is a legal continuation of the old
Ulster Unionist Party which misruled Northern
Ireland from 1921 to 1972. It is, though, a very
dierent party.
It is unsure of its identity, squeezed between
Alliance and the DUP which hammered it.
One-third of all party members are in the
Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency.
There have been five leaders in seven years.
Leadership has zig-zagged between liberals
and conservatives, none reviving party
fortunes.
The UUP has gambled and made Jon Burrows
its leader. Burrows is unelected, having been
co-opted to the Assembly last August. He has
been a party member for only around a year.
Burrows is a forceful media performer and
energetic. He can also be abrasive, and lacks
political experience. While a senior policeman,
he faced several controversies, though he
was never accused of wrong-doing. The UUP
has decided that, if it is to die, at least it will
go with a bang, not a whimper. Burrows must
decide strategically if he will embrace Gavin
Robinson’s immediate enticing oer to take
part in talks on unionist co-operation, most
likely agreeing candidates for elections.
The SDLP continues its slow decline, having
fallen from largest party (in votes) to fifth. SDLP
revivals are promised every so often. They
never come.
Bad tempered
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