Northern Ireland

Stormont opponents pile pressure on Sir Jeffrey Donaldson after threat to stall restoration of the assembly

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. Picture by Hugh Russell
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. Picture by Hugh Russell DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. Picture by Hugh Russell

THE DUP's opponents at Stormont last night rounded on Sir Jeffrey Donaldson after he indicated that he may block restoration of the assembly tomorrow by refusing to nominate a speaker.

The move would put the assembly on hold but leave ministers in the so-called zombie executive in place, albeit without any form of political accountability.

The election of a speaker, which requires cross-community support from both unionist and nationalist members, would enable assembly business to resume for up to six months, even in the absence of a full executive.

However, Sir Jeffrey, who on Tuesday said he was remaining at Westminster until issues around the protocol were "resolved", said his party will decide by tomorrow whether to elect a new assembly speaker.

"I'm waiting to see what the government has to say – so that is the priority right now, to ensure that what the government say is moving us in the right direction," he told the BBC.

"I'm simply saying that we will need to make a decision on that. That's one of the decisions we've got to make."

It has been reported that British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is due to tell the EU that the dispute over the Irish Sea border cannot drag on, with the threat of unilateral action being floated.

Sinn Féin first minister-elect Michelle O'Neill urged the DUP leader to "get down to doing business".

"I don't think it is good enough. It is not good enough for the people here that the DUP is holding society to ransom, punishing society, preventing the establishment of a speaker and an executive to actually respond to the things people are worried about," she said.

"I don't think it is acceptable, the position Jeffrey Donaldson has articulated today."

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney voiced similar concerns during a visit to Belfast yesterday.

The Fine Gael deputy leader said people in the north wanted decisions made by the devolved administration.

"Parties here in Northern Ireland need to make decisions for themselves in the context of, hopefully, the election of a speaker this week so that an assembly can function," he said.

"Obviously we need to work towards finding a way towards an executive being set up to function as well. I think people in Northern Ireland want Northern Ireland politicians making decisions on their behalf."

He said he had had "direct and blunt conversations" with a number of parties.

"The Irish government wants to be a constructive part of what is a difficult process to get devolved government up and running and to get the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement functioning again," he said.

Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said there is a duty on the DUP to nominate a speaker, as otherwise "virtually nothing can happen".

"I think there is a duty on the DUP to put someone in place so at least some of the basic functions can be done – not to do so is extremely irresponsible," he said.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said a new speaker should be nominated as a bare minimum.

"It will be serious (if no Speaker is nominated on Friday) because up until now, we've been able to do some form of business because the assembly could meet, we could do stuff, we could hold the ministers to account for the next 24 weeks because question time would continue with them and we would know what was happening in regards to the individual departments," he said.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood urged Sir Jeffrey to nominate a speaker and also to nominate himself as deputy first minister.

"It's all very strange because I remember sitting in a studio with Jeffrey Donaldson only a couple of weeks ago where he was arguing that the assembly could continue, that committee structures would continue, the ministers would continue," he said.

"Of course these new rules were asked for by the DUP during NDNA (New Decade New Approach) and now Jeffrey's threatening not even to allow the assembly to meet – the whole thing's ridiculous."

TUV leader Jim Allister said a new speaker should not be nominated until the protocol is "rendered moribund".