How Belfast Became a Bargaining Chip

In British national politics, Belfast rarely gets star billing nowadays. This is partly because political violence in Northern Ireland’s capital city has plummeted since the 1990s. It’s also partly because the province’s intricate, complex history of sectarian strife makes many English people deeply uncomfortable. Now Northern Irish politics has raced back into British public debate in the most abrupt way possible.

Following an unexpectedly poor showing in last Thursday’s election, Theresa May’s Conservative Party no longer possesses a majority in Parliament. To make their continuing government viable, they are brokering an agreement with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), whose 10 members would, when combined with those of May’s Conservatives, give the government a narrow working majority of two seats.