KAREN Bradley's ten-month tenure as secretary of state has been characterised by division and recrimination among Stormont's parties but yesterday she successfully united unionist and nationalist in deriding her latest attempt to restart negotiations. Despite this degree of consensus, the restoration of devolution remains a distant hope.
Only the DUP, the party responsible for propping up the Tory government at Westminster, didn't feel the need to complain about yesterday's roundtable meeting, which was initially billed as a briefing on the secretary of state's recent legislation before morphing into discussion about convening talks.
It was the first time since negotiations collapsed in February that all the parties had been in the same room and by all accounts the exchanges between Stormont's two biggest were extremely acrimonious.
Mrs Bradley said on Wednesday that she was considering "external facilitation" to bring a fresh dynamic to an infirm and directionless process though it appears this strategy has yet to be developed beyond a soundbite. The confidence and supply deal is the elephant in the room and as long as it in place, anything that causes discomfort for the DUP, including an outside mediator, will be avoided.
Read more:
- Leading article: Political shambles hitting basic services
- MLA salaries reduced in first of two planned pay cuts
- Dominic Raab visits north ahead of Brexit talks intensification
- Primark fire: Karen Bradley defends £2 million allocated to Belfast
The DUP veto leaves the secretary of state with no option but to perform a charade in which she tries to create the impression of momentum but ends up floundering hopelessly.
Constrained by circumstances yet also appearing out of her depth, there seems little point in further engagement with the Stormont parties until Mrs Bradley can table something decisive.
Until the numbers at Westminster change, however, it seems we are doomed to watch the same farce play out, while the key protagonists become further entrenched.
