A last-ditch effort to restore devolved government at Stormont hours ahead of a deadline to call fresh Assembly elections failed on Thursday evening.
The Northern Ireland Protocol created an east-west Irish Sea border to avoid a north-south border on the island of Ireland.
But Unionists view that UK/EU Brexit compromise as a threat to Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom.They want it scrapped but Rishi Sunak doesn't want a trade war with the EU, hence the stalemate at Stormont. Without compromise, power-sharing could be over for good before next year's 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The DUP blames the Protocol but others view the trading arrangement as the consequence of Brexit, which the DUP championed.Brexit was always going to have a greater impact on Northern Ireland than anywhere else in the UK.But whether you blame Brexit or blame the Protocol, the future of Stormont now hangs in the balance.