Reform's surge in Britain threatens a new crisis in Northern Ireland

Fragile political stability in Northern Ireland is being undermined by the rise of the radical right in mainland Britain. The prospect of a Reform government at Westminster puts in doubt the delicate balance between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists, whose hostility to each other is as deep today as when the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) put an end to the Troubles – in reality a low level but savage war lasting 30 years – in 1998.

“The most destabilising factor in Northern Ireland today comes from the mainland,” says historian, journalist and nationalist commentator Brian Feeney . He sees the election of a Reform government “as destabilising Northern Ireland absolutely” because it would lead, among many other divisive changes, to the UK leaving the European Convention o