ARLENE FOSTER’S resignation and the infighting in her Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) show that “partition has failed — it has run its course,” the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) declared today.

General secretary Eugene McCartan said that “after 100 years of partition, unionism has finally run out of options and unionists’ relationship with the British state has been downgraded.

“The British have courted and secured new forces to advance their imperial interests in Ireland, north and south.

“It’s not just Brexit that has accentuated the ongoing and deepening crisis within unionism. Political unionism has little, if anything, to offer its working-class base, other than the relentless dog whistle of sectarianism.”

He said that the DUP, together with the other parties on the Northern Ireland executive, had “overseen over two decades of austerity and attacks on the living standards of working people.

“The NHS is on the verge of collapse. Poverty has grown. All the Stormont parties have failed to challenge the current economic orthodoxy nor meaningfully challenge the British-imposed budget restraints.

“No matter who will take over after Arlene Foster, the challenges facing both urban and rural working families, as well as farming communities, will not be met or satisfied.”

The CPI leader said that as we approach the 100th anniversary of partition next Monday, “it’s time for a new way forward for working people from Derry to Kerry.

“We need a new economic and social order with the needs of working people centre stage. A new all-Ireland democracy.”