Democratic Unionist Party [DUP] leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has said that issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol must be resolved or it will become “difficult” for his party to form a government after the next Assembly election.
The DUP’s Paul Givan, first minister of Northern Ireland, resigned on Thursday. His move meant that the deputy first minister from Sinn Fein, Michelle O’Neill, also had to stand down.
Givan resigned as a statement of the DUP’s opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, the part of the UK’s Brexit deal which sees Northern Ireland remain within the bloc’s single market for goods.
The Protocol requires that Northern Ireland continues to adhere to some EU rules, meaning that there are customs checks on goods moving from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. This has effectively created an Irish Sea trade border, with unionists argue undermines Northern Ireland’s status as part of the UK.
Prior to Givan’s resignation on Thursday, the DUP’s agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, had ordered checks at Northern Irish ports on goods arriving from Great Britain to be halted. However, the High Court has ordered the checks to continue with legal challenges ongoing.
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Donaldson said that he had “withdrawn” Givan as first minister “on the basis that the protocol issues have not been addressed, despite clear commitments and promises given by the prime minister that they would be addressed.”
Donaldson continued: “If the Protocol issues are not resolved by the time of the election [in May], then of course it is difficult for us to form a government, because of the instability that the Protocol creates.”
The DUP leader then said that he had spoken with UK prime minister Boris Johnson a week ago, who had informed him that there was a “20 to 30 per cent” likelihood of the UK and EU reaching an agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol within the next few weeks.
Talks over the running of the Protocol have been ongoing for months, with the UK and EU intensifying discussions recently.
Although the next Assembly election is due in May, Sinn Fein have called for Northern Ireland to go to the polls early.
Sinn Fein has been critical of the DUP’s decision to withdraw Givan as first minister, labelling the move “stunt politics” and “cynical and reckless”.
While Northern Ireland’s Assembly can continue to run, the Stormont Executive cannot meet without a first and deputy first minister. As a result, there is major doubt over whether important legislation for Northern Ireland that requires approval from the Executive can be passed.
Two pending pieces of legislation that would need to be approved by the Executive include the plans for Northern Ireland’s multi-year budget, and provisions to lift Covid-19 restrictions that are still in force in the region.
Health minister Robin Swann said that “urgent legal clarification” was required on the possibility of restrictions being eased while the Executive was suspended.
Executive party leaders at Stormont have held a virtual meeting to address how it could operate in the short term, while the party whips at Stormont are to meet for talks shortly on how Assembly business could be managed over the coming days.
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
