Pensioner Kenneth Hewitt has always lived in one of the North’s most deprived areas — yet come a pre-Christmas election he’ll not be changing his vote.
“Sure we know what’s going to happen. We’re going to vote Protestant because we’re Protestant and the Catholics are going to vote Catholic. You live here. It’s tribal.”
The 69-year-old has left his house on Thursday for a walk along the Ballysillan Road in north Belfast after hearing a news bulletin on a failed attempt to restore Stormont — that will inevitability trigger a December Assembly poll.
A loyalist anti-Protocol banner declaring “Ulster is British and this we will always maintain” is outside a busy convenience store behind him in what is a predominantly Protestant area neighbouring the Catholic Oldpark and Ardoyne districts.
In a constituency that has voted along nationalist/unionist lines for almost 20 years, north Belfast has also been ranked as the third most social and economically deprived Assembly area since 2010.
Mr Hewitt is worried about his wife waiting for her second knee replacement.
Asked if he supports a return of the Stormont powersharing executive to ensure a fixed budget to try to tackle the North’s dire waiting lists — the worst in the NHS — he says: “I would like to see it back but I don’t know what Stormont can do, it’s a them and us. If they sorted this tonight I don’t know if it will make a big load of difference to the hospitals.
During the last Assembly poll in May, the surge in the centrist Alliance Party vote caused the biggest political casualty of the election with SDLP deputy leader and former Stormont minister Nichola Mallon losing her North Belfast seat.
However, the remaining four seats were split between Sinn Féin and the DUP — reflecting the electoral outworkings across Northern Ireland.
In nationalist Ardoyne, Aine McComb says she’ll vote in another election — even if it is the week before Christmas. Her six-year-old son Fiacra has cystic fibrosis, and she wants the health service to improve.
“We see the effects of what’s happening in the hospitals day in and day out. They need to get things sorted and get Stormont back.
“But I can’t see the DUP going back in if they’ve waited this long, it will just start all over again. It’s holding up everything now. Everyone needs to get round a table and move on.”
Another young mother in Ballysillan said she has previously voted DUP.
“I think it’s ridiculous to have another election. It’s like stick in the mud, nothing’s going forward,” says Nikita McDowell.
“I actually listen to my older peers about politics — I don’t who I would vote now but I know what I want for my kids and my family.”
Leaving Ardoyne with his grandchildren and heading towards a bowling club where he’s worked for 16 years, David says he hasn’t voted in five years.
Living in a flat, he hasn’t bought gas in five months and is too afraid to turn on the oven as it “costs a fortune”.
“I can understand some of the points about the protocol but unless you’re in talking you can’t resolve it. The DUP need to get back in. I think it’s a joke they’re still getting paid. I’ll not be voting for anyone.”
