Politics

Calls for outside mediation as leaders insist Stormont deal can still be done

James Brokenshire believes agreement is still possible. Picture by Mal McCann
James Brokenshire believes agreement is still possible. Picture by Mal McCann James Brokenshire believes agreement is still possible. Picture by Mal McCann

THE secretary of state looks set to resist calls for outside mediation to help break the Stormont deadlock.

James Brokenshire remains hopeful that a deal to restore the institutions can be brokered despite his plans to implement a budget for the current financial year.

The latest phase of talks concluded on Wednesday without agreement. However, according to British Prime Minister Theresa May and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the differences between the DUP and Sinn Féin are not insurmountable.

The two leaders spoke by telephone on Wednesday and said they agreed "the gap between the two parties is narrow".

The taoiseach said there could be no return to direct rule as it existed prior to the Good Friday Agreement and that the various provisions of the accord would have to be honoured.

Mrs May made clear she too did not want to a return to direct rule and that moves to implement a budget were not the first step in that process.

At Westminster yesterday, Mr Brokenshire said there was still time to save power-sharing.

He comfirmed his plan to bring a regional budget before MPs - warning that Northern Ireland will begin to run out of money in the coming weeks - and to look at MLAs' pay.

The secretary of state claimed the imposition of the spending plan no more signalled a move towards direct rule than setting the regional rate in June did.

He also insisted that the Conservatives remained committed to delivering on £1 billion pledged as part of its confidence and supply deal with the DUP.

Labour Northern Ireland spokesman Owen Smith criticised Mrs May's lack of involvement in the talks process.

He said it was "completely inexplicable" that the prime minister had visited the region just once since Stormont collapsed at the beginning of the year.

"She has not attended a single substantive session of the talks in Belfast and she has not made a single substantive intervention to try and move things along," he told MPs.

"I know things have been difficult recently, but frankly the odd phone call to the taoiseach just isn't good enough."

Mr Smith said the time had come to "consider drafting in some outside help", a call later echoed by Alliance's deputy leader Stephen Farry.

The North Down MLA said a mediator was one step the secretary of state could take towards a "more inclusive and multilateral format to negotiations".

To date, Mr Brokenshire has shown little appetite for calling in outside help and a statement from the Northern Ireland Office last night suggested there would be no imminent change in policy, though matters would be kept "under review".

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said the Stormont "drift" could not be allowed to continue and British ministers may have to take control of departments in the near future.

He claimed Sinn Féin was now raising different issues before entering power-sharing from those which initially collapsed the executive in December.

His colleague Jeffrey Donaldson insisted that an Armed Forces Covenant, which aims to give ex-servicemen and women some priority medical treatment and housing allocation, was important to the DUP.

"It is part of the negotiations, and our agreement with the government includes its full implementation in Northern Ireland," he said.

"There will be no outcome that does not see the armed forces covenant provide for the servicemen and women, the veterans and families from Northern Ireland who have served this country."

Sinn Féin negotiator Conor Murphy said unless there was a "step change" from the DUP and the two governments, an agreement was unlikely.

"The current phase of talks failed because of the DUP’s refusal to accept a future based on rights and equality," he said.

"This anti-rights position has been facilitated by a British government, which is dependent on the DUP for its own survival."

The SDLP's Daniel McCrossan challenged Sinn Féin to "come clean" and admit that the failed talks were set to deliver direct rule.