As Foster Quits, What Next for Northern Ireland and Brexit?

Arlene Foster’s resignation as Northern Ireland’s First Minister risks triggering more instability to a region already riven by sectarian strife and mounting concerns around the impact of Brexit. This part of the U.K. played a central role in the rupture with the European Union and the drawn-out acrimony around it.

On Wednesday, Foster laid out her plan to step down as head of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party next month and as first minister at the end of June. Foster has been under internal pressure for months, in part because she failed to stop the creation of an economic border between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain as part of the Brexit divorce deal.