The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) should “choke down” and agree to form a new devolved government in Northern Ireland to avoid a new election “which would waste time and money”, the UK’s Northern Ireland minister has said.
Northern Ireland has been in political deadlock since March when the DUP, which supports Northern Ireland’s remaining part of the UK, walked out of the power-sharing government in Belfast.
It has since refused to form a government with Sinn Fein, which won May’s assembly elections until its concerns about the Northern Ireland protocol are met. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the two largest parties representing the national and unionist communities must be part of the government.
During Truss’s 44-day administration, talks reopened on a new government in Belfast. Speaking at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly on Monday (24 October), Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker said it was “incumbent” on all parties to form an Executive quickly.
“We would like the DUP to accept that and reform the Executive to avoid an election. We are very clear that we will otherwise call an election and call it to get it done as soon as feasible,” Baker said.
Problems with the protocol
The protocol, which was a key part of the Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU, introduced customs checks on goods travelling from Britain to the island of Ireland, effectively carving Northern Ireland out of the UK’s internal market.
The DUP has demanded that it be scrapped, while the UK governments of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Rishi Sunak have all promised to renegotiate its terms with Brussels.
A bill tabled by Truss, then the Foreign Secretary, in July, which would allow the UK government to unilaterally override the protocol, continues its passage through Parliament in the House of Lords this week.
“This government and indeed the next prime minister will maintain the UK’s policy on the Protocol. They (DUP) should count on us to negotiate with humility and resolve, recognising everyone’s interests, trying to get a deal that works for us all,” said Baker.
“If the DUP accept that and find it in within themselves to choke down the position they have taken, just get into the Executive and do it this week, we can avoid an election which would waste time and money that could be better spent elsewhere,” he added.
Should progress towards a new government not be made by the end of October, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said that he will be legally required to call fresh elections, likely to be held on 15 December.
It is unclear whether Heaton-Harris and Baker will still be in their posts when new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who will formally take office on Tuesday, appoints his new ministerial team.
Opinion polls indicate that a repeat assembly election would deliver a near identical result to May, when Sinn Fein, which supports a united Ireland, topped the poll, followed by the DUP.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
