Edwin Poots is the new leader of Northern Ireland’s largest Unionist party, the DUP.
He beat his rival Westminister leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, in a close contest after Arlene Foster stood down from the role amid anger over her support for the Northern Irish protocol in the Brexit agreement.
Post-Brexit trade rules have imposed customs and border checks on some goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.
The arrangement was designed to avoid checks between Northern Ireland and Ireland, an EU member, because an open Irish border has helped underpin the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
Poots is a Christian fundamentalist and believer in creationism whose conservative views on social issues echo those of the DUP’s founder, the late Rev. Ian Paisley, but are far outside the U.K. political mainstream.
Correspondent Tadhg Enright says relations between the two leaders haven’t had a chance to recover since the damage caused by Brexit.
“Everyone accepts is probably not working just yet. But where they differ is whether more effort needs to be done to make it work or whether there has to be concessions made by either side,” he said.
“And, you know, we’re getting echoes of the same old Brexit story over and over again with the UK asking the EU in the last few days to show pragmatism in how it polices its single market and Northern Ireland’s unique position within the single market and within the UK.”
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