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Pressure builds on DUP over new deal  

The framework removes the Northern Ireland Protocol’s barriers on trade across the Irish Sea and hands a “veto” to politicians in Stormont on EU law…reports Asian Lite News

Stormont leaders have urged the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to reach a swift conclusion over the Windsor Framework to unlock the power-sharing logjam.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with the leaders of some of the political parties during a visit to Northern Ireland to sell the benefits of the deal he has agreed with the EU on post-Brexit trading arrangements.

The framework removes the Northern Ireland Protocol’s barriers on trade across the Irish Sea and hands a “veto” to politicians in Stormont on EU law.

During a visit to a factory in Lisburn, the Prime Minister said the framework resolved the issues around the protocol and power sharing could be restored.

“They need to get back in,” he said.

Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill said there can be no delay in restoring power sharing.

Sunak met with Naomi Long, leader of the cross-community Alliance Party and Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie in Co Antrim.

The DUP and SDLP leaders are currently in London and Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill said she had spoken to Sunak on the phone.

The first minister in waiting said: “I welcomed the fact that a deal has been done and have told him to keep the positive momentum going to restore the Executive without any more delays.

“Sinn Féin has also met with key local business leaders today to discuss progress on making the Protocol work more smoothly with less bureaucracy, paperwork and costs. Our businesses need certainty and stability, and they are clearly hopeful that the deal struck between London and Brussels can secure that in the time ahead. It has been our firm view that any agreement must protect the all-island economy, prevent a hard border and safeguard continued access to the EU single market. The deal is done. People are now clearly focused on getting an Executive up and running and want all parties around the table working together to deliver for workers, families and local businesses. We need an Executive in place that will unlock the huge economic opportunities of the Protocol to create jobs, strengthen our local economy and help businesses to expand. It’s time the DUP ended its blockade of the Executive and worked with the rest of us to fix the health service, tackle waiting lists and help businesses, workers and families who are struggling with rising costs.”

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, whose party has been boycotting Stormont, said they would take time to consider the detail of the framework.

But other party leaders urged the DUP to get back to work.

Alliance leader Naomi Long said: “I think we are in the right space. Key for us now is we need to get this done. We need to get a decision from the DUP and we need to get back to our day jobs. We want to be sitting in committee rooms and in the Assembly chamber doing our jobs. In terms of trading arrangements between the UK and particularly Northern Ireland and the EU, we recognise this is a major step forward. This is the deal we could have had in 2019 if we had a serious prime minister who was willing to engage respectfully with the EU.”

Long did say her party had some concerns about how the Stormont brake, which allows the Northern Ireland assembly to flag concerns about the application of new EU laws on goods, would operate.

She added: “It remains unclear in terms of how it will function, at what level the trigger will be set.

“The one thing we do not want to do is to inject more instability into the institutions at Stormont.”

UUP leader Doug Beattie said: “I think the Stormont brake is one of those things which sounds good when you talk about it, but as soon as you start delving into it and understanding how it actually works, it throws up more questions than it does answers.

“But I can see the Prime Minister is working hard to sell this deal and we will work hard to scrutinise it. Anyone who is saying this should take weeks and months, I think, is being disingenuous. Any political party should be able to look at this and engage with their party at every level and come up with what they believe to be the outcome, certainly within a week or so. Stormont could be up and running now. You could have an Executive now, and at the same time we could be looking at this framework. You can do that at the same time. But if we drag this out for months then businesses will be sitting there not knowing whether they are coming or going. We need to hear from business, we need to know if it works for them. But there is no point dragging it out. People need to show the courage of their convictions, look at the deal, come up with your analysis and make your pitch.”

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DUP blocks restoration of government in Northern Ireland

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson warns against new checks at N.Ireland ports.(pic credit: https://twitter.com/J_Donaldson_MP)

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) lived up to its threat and blocked the restoration of the power-sharing government, reports Asian Lite News

In the Northern Ireland Assembly (Stormont) on Friday, the DUP politicians abstained in a vote on the appointment of a Speaker, forcing it to collapse, reports Xinhua news agency.

They ignored pleas by other elected members to allow the assembly and its cabinet of ministers to function.

Unless the DUP changes its mind, it could take up to six months before fresh elections would be held.

In the meantime, there will be no functioning executive cabinet or Assembly.

In last week’s elections, the pro-Republican Sinn Fein party won majority support and the right to choose, for the first time ever, the administration’s First Minister.

The vote left the previous majority-holder in the assembly, the DUP, with the right to name a Deputy First Minister.

Under the rules, the Assembly and its executive cabinet cannot function unless a Speaker, First Minister and a Deputy fFirst Minister are all in place.

The DUP vehemently opposes the Northern Ireland Protocol, the trade solution agreed by London and the European Union (EU) to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the neighbouring Republic of Ireland.

Under the deal, an Irish Sea border was created between the British mainland and Northern Ireland, meaning goods transported to and from Northern Ireland are subjected to border controls.

It has led to threats by the British government to tear up the protocol, a prospect hotly opposed by the EU.

The focus now switches to UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who needs to solve the protocol dispute with EU officials in Brussels.

Northern Ireland Assembly(credit: https://www.facebook.com/NorthernIrelandAssembly)

In Friday’s debate, the DUP’s Gordon Lyons said: “We will not be going into an executive until we deal with the instability of the protocol and with the long shadow it is casting.”

In a statement after the vote, Paul Murnaghan, president of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, described the decision as a blow to business and investor confidence.

“At a time when our elected representatives should be getting straight to work to tackle a myriad of very significant challenges, we remain in limbo.

“We call on all political representatives to stop allowing division to hold back progress and form a stable, fully functioning assembly and executive without delay,” he added.

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NI elections could throw up uncertainty

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, speaking at the launch of Assembly Election manifesto. (Image: Twitter@duponline)

The delicate balance could be endangered if as opinion polls are indicating Sinn Fein, the political arm of the anti-British separatist Irish Republican Army, now dormant but entirely defunct, wins more seats than the DUP in the Assembly, writes Ashis Ray

A cloud of uncertainty confronts Northern Ireland, one of the four constituents comprising the UK, as it goes to the polls to elect 90 members to its regional Assembly on May 5.

This, because Sinn Fein, a party identified as representing the minority Catholic community, is tipped to become the largest single party in the House, beating the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which historically enjoys the support of Protestants, the majority population in the region.

After decades of bad blood and violence between Protestants and Catholics, a historic peace accord arrived at Easter in 1998, known as the Good Friday Agreement, which ushered comparative reconciliation and calm in a part of Britain separated from the remainder of the British Isles by the Irish Sea and having a land border with the Catholic dominated Republic of Ireland to its south.

Protestant political parties fiercely loyal to the UK and their Catholic counterparts equally committed to independence from the UK and merger with the Republic of Ireland, accepted the principle of power sharing, with the position of First Minister going to the party with the highest number of seats in the Assembly; and that of Deputy First Minister allocated to the party with the second highest number of seats.

Thus far, the First Minister has been from the DUP and the Deputy First Minister from Sinn Fein.

The delicate balance could be endangered if as opinion polls are indicating Sinn Fein, the political arm of the anti-British separatist Irish Republican Army, now dormant but entirely defunct, wins more seats than the DUP in the Assembly.

The Belfast Telegraph on Friday published a LucidTalk survey, which forecast 26 per cent of votes for Sinn Fein and 20 per cent to the DUP.

A third pro-British, pro-Protestant party, the Ulster Unionist Party, could secure around 13 per cent of votes and the Traditional Unionist Voice, of the same genre, attracting 9 per cent. On the other side, a pro-Republic of Ireland, pro-Catholic force, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), might muster around 11 per cent.

Sinn Féin’s election manifesto launch (Image: Twitter@moneillsf)

In effect, the Unionists as they are called could cumulatively obtain about 42 per cent of electoral support; while Sinn Fein and SDLP, labelled nationalists or republicans, could muster about 37 per cent. Both the Protestant and Catholic groups, though, lack coordination between themselves, thereby neither being able to reach a consensus within themselves on an First Minister candidate. So, the rule that the largest party in the Assembly is entitled to have the First Minister will apply.

“The DUP has repeatedly refused to say if it would accept filling the role of deputy first minister if pushed into second place,” reported the Guardian.

Indeed, if it resists nominating a person as Deputy First Minister, government formation would become virtually impossible. Such a state of affairs has in the past been a recipe for lawlessness. DUP’s core backers who remain uncompromisingly opposed to Sinn Fein find propping up a government led by Sinn Fein unacceptable.

It is assessed by analysts that DUP’s plummeted popularity has been caused by it endorsing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, which includes the Northern Ireland Protocol. This has cut adrift Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK as an economic entity so as to maintain the non-negotiable condition of an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland mandated in the Good Friday Agreement.

The Northern Irish people loyal to Britain are not only affronted by this economic estrangement, but their business are experiencing delays and distress from checks on movement of goods between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain and consequent shortages and a sharp increase in prices of essential items.

Launch of DUP’s Assembly Election manifesto. (Image: Twitter@duponline)

The campaign by parties who swear by the British union has been that if Sinn Fein emerges as the largest single party it will push for unification with the South, in an attempt to spread fear among voters allergic to such an idea. But the US, which brokered the Good Friday Agreement and is adamant about adherence to it, is unlikely to allow a change in the status quo.

President Joe Biden himself of Irish Catholic origin is likely to ensure Sinn Fein doesn’t rock the boat.

Meanwhile, one of the outcomes of the upcoming election could be the slight rise of the neutral Alliance party, which could command 16 per cent of votes, without, however, making a decisive difference to Northern Ireland’s age-old polarised politics.

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