evidence: That angered Northern Ireland’s British unionists, who said the east-west customs border undermined Northern Ireland’s place in the U.K. In February 2022, the Democratic Unionist Party walked out of Northern Ireland’s government in protest. [...] The DUP boycott left Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people without a functioning administration for two years as the cost of living soared and public services creaked under the strain. [...] Unionists were the largest force in the Northern Ireland Assembly from its establishment in 1998 until 2022, when Sinn Fein won the largest number of seats in an election. That gives the nationalist party, affiliated with the militant Irish Republican Army during the Troubles, the right to hold the post of first minister, with the DUP supplying a deputy.