evidence: Northern Ireland’s Unionists Are Fighting for Survival [...] Unionists were dealt a humiliating blow in Northern Ireland’s local elections earlier this year. Sinn Fein, the country’s largest pro-Irish nationalist party, continued its relentless climb to the top, securing outright control of four local councils and winning more first preference votes than any other party. [...] In a last-ditch effort to reform the protocol and secure Northern Ireland’s place inside the United Kingdom, the DUP—Northern Ireland’s largest pro-Union political grouping—withdrew from the region’s governing bodies, refusing to reengage until substantive changes were made to the Protocol.