ARLENE Foster will not face any immediate challenge to her leadership in the wake of an unprecedented rebellion by DUP backbenchers, a senior party source has told The Irish News.
The DUP leader was left smarting on Tuesday after half her party's MLAs failed to back legislation that she was co-sponsoring.
In scenes not witnessed in the DUP's near 50-year history, 14 of the party's assembly team, including former ministers and committee chairs, refused to back the Executive Committee (Functions) Bill.
Despite the rebellion, the fast-tracked legislation giving individual ministers more power passed comfortably and will become law once it receives royal ascent.
It emerged yesterday, that two of the party's MPs – Sammy Wilson and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson – alongside deputy leader Nigel Dodds had warned Mrs Foster not to proceed with a controversial bill.
Their warning came after former DUP senior special adviser Richard Bullick raised misgivings about the legislation.
Mr Bullick, who now works for Belfast-based PR and public affairs company MCE, said the bill would mean safeguards on ministers' 'solo runs' secured by the DUP at St Andrews would be lost.
Mrs Foster has yet to appear publicly since Tuesday's rebellion, while a DUP spokesman said the party had "relaxed the whip" ahead of Tuesday's vote – a claim met with deep scepticism by former health minister Jim Wells.
Last night a senior DUP member told The Irish News that a heave against the leader in the short-term was unlikely but that her credibility had suffered a setback.
"If you're asking me if there'll be a leadership challenge, I don't think it's there yet but it's a straw in the wind," the source said.
"Here we have another issue that points to poor judgement and that can't be sustainable – that said, the woman has remarkable resilience."
The senior DUP source said there was "no groundswell" against Mrs Foster.
DUP education minister Peter Weir yesterday played down the significance of the MLAs' rebellion.
"From time to time there will always be some kinds of disagreements on individual issues but we've got to make sure that these things are not blown out of proportion," he told the BBC.
"The DUP is united in wanting to deliver for all the people in Northern Ireland and I think people admire the strong leadership Arlene Foster has given, particularly over the last few months with the Covid virus."
Meanwhile, Nichola Mallon's Department for Infrastructure has insisted that the SDLP minister will be able to make major planning decisions once the legislation becomes law – appearing to contradict a statement from Junior Minister Declan Kearney.
The Sinn Féin junior minister told the assembly on Tuesday that no major planning decisions could be made until Stormont's ministerial code was revised, by autumn at the earliest.
