Month: May 2022

Sinn Féin secured the most seats in the assembly election, a first for a nationalist party in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill is in line to become first minister, if the DUP nominate a deputy first minister.

However Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has played down the prospect of a border poll being called.

The Northern Ireland secretary said the election results were “significant”, but pointed out that unionists still have more seats than nationalists at the Northern Ireland Assembly.

“So I think the focus at the moment quite rightly is on getting Stormont back up and running,” he told BBC NI’s Sunday Politics programme.

Ms O’Neill, who leads the party at Stormont, said on Saturday that the party will be at Stormont on Monday, ready to form an executive.

She said “other parties” need to be ready to form an executive and that there should be “no excuses” or “time wasting”.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the decision on when to call a border poll rests with the Northern Ireland secretary.

Sinn Féin’s ultimate goal is for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and become one country with the Republic of Ireland, but that does not mean a border poll is imminent.

When asked what the criteria is for calling such a poll, Mr Lewis did not answer the question directly, but referred to the results of the assembly election.

He said he intends to meet Stormont party leaders on Monday to try to ensure the power-sharing executive resumes.

Northern Ireland has been without a power-sharing executive for several months after the DUP collapsed the institutions as part of its protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol – part of the Brexit deal.

He previously said he would be meeting party leaders over the coming days and would urge them to restore the Stormont institutions, starting with the nomination of an assembly speaker within eight days.

While the office of the first and deputy first minister is an equal one with joint power, the allocation of the titles is regarded as symbolically important.

Although Sinn Féin can now nominate a first minister, they cannot take up the office unless the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – the biggest party from the unionist bloc – agrees to nominate a deputy first minister.

Its leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has not yet made a decision on whether the party will do that.

On Saturday, Sir Jeffrey said his party would respect the result of the election, however there needed to be changes made to the protocol.

The US State Department called on the parties “to take the necessary steps to re-establish a power-sharing executive”.

“Critical and immediate challenges concerning the economy, health, and education are best addressed through the collective efforts of a devolved government chosen by, and accountable to, its people,” spokesperson Ned Price said.

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said it was “incumbent” on all elected representatives to deliver on their mandate through the nomination of a first and deputy first minister.

“A new power-sharing executive is vital for progress and prosperity for all in Northern Ireland,” he added.

A unionist party had always been the largest in the assembly, and previously the Stormont Parliament, since the formation of Northern Ireland in 1921.

For Sinn Féin to be installed in the role of first minister, the majority of unionist assembly members have to agree to form a power-sharing coalition.

In her acceptance speech, Michelle O’Neill said: “The executive needs to be formed immediately. The people cannot wait. People struggling with the cost of living are relying on us to get on with things and do our jobs.

“I have written to all party leaders proposing that we come together on Monday at Stormont and get down to business. Our collective task is to work together to solve the problems facing this society.”

The executive is at the heart of Northern Ireland’s devolved government, made up of ministers nominated to oversee key departments such as health, finance and justice.

For the first time, the Alliance Party has become the third-biggest in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The centre-ground party won 17 seats – up from the eight it won in 2017 – and 13.5% of first preference votes.

The party took a number of seats in the assembly election at the expense of the DUP and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has said he believes that in some areas his party’s supporters also “lent their votes to Sinn Féin”.

“I think there’s a tide there and people wanted to send a message, they wanted to kick the DUP and I think this is how they decided to do it,” he told BBC News NI.

More than a third of the MLAs elected to the assembly are women.

Thirty-two of the 90 MLAs are female, compared with 27 who were elected in 2017.

The blaze, which started around 05:00 local time on Monday (22:00 BST on Sunday), also destroyed 80 homes.

It started on the second floor of a house in a crowded settlement inside the sprawling campus of the University of the Philippines, in Quezon City.

The cause of the blaze is unknown.

Senior fire officer Greg Bichayda told AFP news agency that it took nearly two hours to extinguish the blaze.

“The fire spread quickly,” Mr Bichayda said, adding that victims were unable to escape their homes.

He said six of those who died were children, but no further details of their ages were released.

“The houses consist of light materials. When the fire broke out, people were shocked,” Mr Bichayda said.

“Our station was just nearby but they weren’t able to call us immediately.”

The Philippines is one of the most densely-populated countries in the world, and its capital has a large number of residents per square kilometre.

Metro Manila, the region which comprises the capital and other cities including Quezon, has a population of about 13 million.

Thousands of people live in overcrowded communities where fires are common.

Chanting “Cyril must go,” they held up signs demanding a wage increase during a ceremony in a stadium near the north-western city of Rustenburg.

The protesters, who worked at a local mine, have been striking for weeks.

President Ramaphosa tried to address the miners’ concerns but was greeted by booing.

The workers want an annual salary pay rise of 1,000 rand ($63; £50) – a demand which President Ramaphosa addressed directly.

“We have heard that message and we will be dealing with that matter,” he is quoted as telling the miners by the IOL news site.

He also pledged to speak to the relevant authorities to meet their demands, IOL reports.

In a two-minute video of the disruption, the president can be seen making repeated attempts to calm the workers down, only to be greeted with further jeering and booing.

At Sunday’s event, which had been organised by South Africa’s trade union federation Cosatu, police had to step in while a bodyguard led the president away from the venue, according to IOL.

The workers were from Sibanye-Stillwater, which is a metal mining company and the world’s largest primary producer of platinum, according to its own website.

South Africa’s economy has been hit hard by the Covid crisis, and unemployment is now around 35%.

Mining is one of South Africa’s most important sectors – accounting for 8-10% of national income and employing almost 450,000 people – but it has been in decline in recent years.

Analysis by Lebo Diseko, BBC News, Johannesburg

May Day is a key event in the yearly calendar of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its trade union allies, and usually draws huge crowds. The fact that what looked like just a few hundred workers turned out to see the president speak was an indication that he was not welcome.

Questions are now being asked about how and why security assessments did not pick up that this might happen.

But perhaps the more important question is why the ANC and Cosatu leaders seem to have been surprised at the level of anger on the ground. It suggests a level of disconnect between the experiences of ordinary people, and those in power.

It is worth noting that some of those who jeered President Ramaphosa at the rally were members of the union he helped to found. Mr Ramaphosa was the first general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.

This is a year in which the ANC holds elections which will decide who leads the party into the country’s next general election. This sort of reception from a key constituency – workers – may foreshadow some of the challenges Mr Ramaphosa could face in seeking re-election.

Russian FM Sergei Lavrov made the comments to try to justify Russia’s portrayal of Ukraine as “Nazi” despite the fact that its president is Jewish.

Israel’s foreign ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador for “clarification” and demanded an apology.

Nazi Germany murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust in World War Two.

Mr Lavrov made the remarks in an interview on Italian TV programme Zona Bianca on Sunday, days after Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, one of the most solemn occasions in the Israeli calendar.

When asked how Russia can claim that it is fighting to “de-Nazify” Ukraine when President Volodymyr Zelensky is himself Jewish, Mr Lavrov said: “So what if Zelensky is Jewish.”

“The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood,” adding that “some of the worst anti-Semites are Jews.”

Israel’s foreign minister reacted furiously to Mr Lavrov’s statement, accusing him of anti-Semitism.

Mr Lavrov was also condemned by the head of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, Dani Dayan.

“Most of his remarks are absurd, delusional, dangerous and deserving of any condemnation,” he tweeted. “Lavrov deals with the reversal of the Holocaust: turning the victims into criminals, based on the promotion of a completely unfounded claim that Hitler was of Jewish descent.”

The BBC’s Jon Donnison in Jerusalem says the strength of the reaction reflects just how deeply offensive and unconscionable Mr Lavrov’s comments will be to Jews both in Israel and around the world. Over recent months, Israel, which has a large Russian population, has tried at times to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

But, he says, the Israeli government has faced some criticism for not taking a tough enough line with President Putin. Mr Lavrov’s comments will test Israel’s relations with Russia and while offensive to many, they reflect a common narrative amongst the Kremlin’s supporters, our correspondent adds.

There have for decades been unproven claims that Hitler’s unidentified paternal grandfather was Jewish, fuelled by an assertion by Hitler’s lawyer Hans Frank.

In his memoir, published in 1953, Frank said he had been instructed by Hitler to investigate rumours that he had Jewish ancestry. Frank said he uncovered evidence that Hitler’s grandfather was indeed Jewish – though the claim, which has gained ground among conspiracy theorists, has been dismissed by mainstream historians.

Russia has repeatedly said that one of its aims in the war against Ukraine is what it calls the “de-Nazification” of the country, making the unfounded claim that its government is steeped in Nazi ideology.

Israel, which has close relations with both Ukraine and Russia, has been at the forefront of international mediation efforts to try to stop the fighting.

Rangers said its supporters had been left “unprotected” and that elderly and disabled fans had been injured by bottles and other missiles.

Celtic said its supporters and stewards were also hit by debris, including seats ripped from the stands.

Police Scotland said its plans had been “proportionate”.

A total of eight people were arrested for various offences including disorder, pyrotechnics and religiously aggravated offences.

Ch Supt Stevie Dolan said: “We are aware of missiles being thrown between groups of supporters within the stadium, one of which struck a police officer who thankfully was not seriously injured.

“Any reports we receive from members of the public relating to match-related incidents will be investigated.

“Further inquiries into disorder on Fielden Street before the match are being carried and we will continue to work in partnership with football clubs to ensure that such events take place safely.”

In a statement after the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, Rangers said it was “disappointed” with the police response.

“Our support was left unprotected as they were attacked by bottles and other missiles,” it said.

“Reports so far include injuries to elderly and disabled supporters. Furthermore, we are collating evidence of possible hate crimes which will be reported to Police Scotland as a matter of urgency.

“We intend to raise our concerns with Police Scotland and Celtic during the debrief.”

Celtic said it was still “working through the recent events at Ibrox”.

During a match last month, a Celtic physiotherapist was hit on the head by a glass bottle and glass had to be removed from the Celtic penalty area.

“It is extremely regrettable that again our supporters have been targeted with missiles, including bottles and seating, ripped from our seating deck, resulting in injury to fans and stewards,” said Celtic.

“We will be liaising with all relevant parties in order that a wide range of issues are fully addressed in the appropriate manner.”

The fallout from the most recent meeting between Scotland’s two biggest clubs will probably surprise no-one. The avalanche of post-match statements relating to fan behaviour has become depressingly predictable.

In the last three fixtures alone we’ve witnessed bottles being thrown, a member of the Celtic backroom team needing treatment, broken glass being cleared from the pitch, fireworks being set off inside and outside stadia, widespread sectarian singing, seats being ripped up and used as missiles and various arrests for disorder.

The government has adopted a hands off approach – it has tried legislation in the past and it failed.

The police say they can’t deal with the problem on their own and the football governing bodies shy away from tougher sanctions for the clubs.

In European competition, heavy fines and even stadium closures are used as a deterrent.

Strict liability is something that is in place in many European countries where clubs can take a harsher line on unacceptable conduct. Scottish clubs have so far failed to adopt that.

If clubs can prove they’ve taken reasonable measures to prevent unacceptable conduct, then little to no action is taken. The reality is, if the clubs who issue statements demanding tougher action really want it, the power is in their own hands.

The newly elected councillors will be responsible for running a range of vital services, including bin collection, schools and social care.

However, many voters will not be voting on how well or badly they think their council is being run – but rather backing the party for which they would vote in a Holyrood or Westminster election.

The results will therefore give us a measure of the popularity of the parties a year on from last year’s Holyrood ballot.

The electoral system, though, is different from last year. Thursday’s ballot will be held using the Single Transferable Vote under which voters rank their local candidates in order of preference – one, two, three, etc.

This system is roughly proportional – though with only three or four councillors elected in each ward. To have much chance of winning a seat a party has to be able to win as much as 15% or so of the first preference vote.

Candidates with too few votes are eventually eliminated from the count and their votes transferred in accordance with their supporters’ second and subsequent preferences.

The last local elections were in 2017 – shortly before the Westminster election of that year in which the SNP suffered a substantial reverse and the Conservatives won their highest share of the vote in Scotland since 1979.

These trends were reflected in the outcome of the local elections.

The Conservatives recorded their best local election performance since 1982. In winning 25% of the first preference vote the party almost doubled the tally it secured in 2012. Labour slumped into third place with just 20%.

The SNP recorded what seemed a rather disappointing performance, advancing not at all on the 32% they had recorded five years earlier – even though in the meantime the party had dramatically won 50% of the vote in the 2015 UK general election.

The Conservatives appear to be in a much weaker position now. On average the party has scored 20% in recent polls of Westminster vote intentions, well down on the 30% that it was recording shortly before the 2017 local elections.

Indeed, mirroring the party’s decline in the Britain-wide polls since “partygate” first became news, the party has now fallen behind Labour, who are currently averaging 26%.

If the Conservatives do come behind Labour on Thursday, it will be the first time since 2016 that they have failed to command second place in a Scotland-wide ballot.

Labour would doubtless claim that the party has now turned the corner. However, its current standing in the polls is still no more than it achieved in the 2017 UK general election.

The SNP are running on average at 43% in the current polls. That is no better than its position shorty before the 2017 local elections, though it is well above the 37% the party secured in the 2017 general election.A range of vital services, including bin collection, schools and social care are run at council level

The polls appear to have been overestimating SNP support in advance of the 2017 general election, and the party will be hoping that this means its current popularity is in practice sufficient to produce an advance.

The elections will be the first to be fought by the Greens since the party agreed to take two positions in the SNP-led administration at Holyrood.

The polls suggest that this move has not done the party any harm at all, and at 11% its current standing in Holyrood list vote intentions is a couple of points up on five years ago.

However, some of the Greens’ Holyrood vote consists of tactical support from SNP voters. So far, other than in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the party has struggled to win enough first preference support in local elections to win more than the occasional seat.

It is hoping to improve on that record this time around – while, if it fails to do so, the SNP will be hoping to profit from the second preferences of Green voters.

The Liberal Democrats seem unlikely to do much more than tread water once again. The party is currently running at 6% in the Westminster polls, a point down on 2017.

It is, however, relatively successful at picking up second preferences from Conservative and Labour supporters, which may help it secure the last seat in some wards.

Meanwhile, Alex Salmond’s Alba party, which is contesting just under a third of the 355 wards, is hoping to register its first electoral success. However, the polls are not encouraging, giving the party just 2-3% of the vote.

Thursday’s ballot will not, however, just be about party politics. Because under STV voters vote for individual candidates rather than, as in Holyrood’s system, for a party list, Independent candidates have been able to win election, and especially so in rural Scotland.

Independent councillors dominate in Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Orkney, and Shetland, while as much as 10% of the first preference vote across Scotland was won by Independent candidates.

Although fewer Independent candidates are standing this year, their presence makes it unlikely that any of the parties will fully match their current poll rating on Thursday.

That will serve as a reminder that sometimes local popularity matters more than party politics.