United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer made his inaugural visit to Northern Ireland on Monday, sparking hopes of improved relations after years of Brexit turmoil.
Starmer’s centre-left Labour party emerged victorious in last week’s UK general election.
The Prime Minister held talks with Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive leaders at Stormont parliament buildings, meeting with First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
As Starmer continues his UK tour, expectations are high on both sides of the political divide. James Pow, a politics lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, noted, “There’s cautious optimism about the new government across the board, but for different reasons.”
Sinn Fein, now the largest Northern Ireland party in the UK parliament, held on to its seven seats in the election, while the DUP lost three seats to rival unionist parties. Starmer’s visit is seen as a positive step towards greater stability and engagement, and potentially mending relations with Dublin.
