DUP agree to deal to restore power-sharing agreement in Northern Ireland

Power-sharing in Northern Ireland is set to return after the DUP party executive backed a Government deal aimed at addressing its concerns over post-Brexit trade barriers.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he would drop the blockade on devolution at Stormont once the Government implemented the various legislative assurances and other measures it has offered his party.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris welcomed the step and made clear the Government would deliver on its end of the deal.

Sir Jeffrey told reporters in a post-1am press conference in Co Down that he had secured the “decisive” backing of the 130-strong party executive during a marathon meeting on Monday night.

He said DUP party officers – a key 12-strong decision making body – had also “mandated” him to move forward on the basis he was proposing.

Support for the deal is not unanimous within the DUP and several senior figures remain fiercely opposed to the proposed agreement to restore power-sharing.

Asked about potential dissent within the party, Sir Jeffrey added: “I am confident that all members of the party will accept what was a decisive move by the party executive this evening.”

Around 50 loyalist and unionist protesters assembled outside Monday night’s meeting at the Larchfield estate in Co Down, many carrying posters and banners warning against a DUP “sellout”.

Some shouted at DUP members as they drove into the grounds of the venue.

The party has been using a veto power to block Stormont’s devolved institutions for two years in protest at post-Brexit arrangements that have created trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

It has been involved in protracted talks with the Government aimed at securing concessions on the arrangements that would address its concerns around trade and sovereignty.

Sir Jeffrey insisted he had secured sufficient party backing to initiate a sequence of events that would result in Stormont’s return.

“The officers, Assembly group, parliamentary group and the central executive of the Democratic Unionist Party have now been briefed and considered all aspects of our negotiations between the UK Government and the DUP,” he said.

“I am pleased to report that the party executive has now endorsed the proposals that I have put to them.

Unionist critics of Sir Jeffrey’s move, both inside and outside the DUP, believe the Stormont boycott should only end once all economic barriers created by Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol, and the subsequent Windsor Framework, are removed.

While the deal being offered by the Government will seek to reduce red tape and offer additional measures aimed at strengthening GB-NI ties, they will not result in the axing of the EU and the UK’s jointly agreed protocol and framework.

Mr Heaton Harris hailed what he described as a “welcome and significant step” by the DUP.

“I am grateful to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and colleagues for the constructive dialogue over the past months and to the other political parties in Northern Ireland for the patience they have shown during this time,” he said.

“I am pleased that the DUP have agreed to accept the package of measures that the UK Government has put forward and as a result they are ready to return to the Northern Ireland Assembly and nominate representatives to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Sinn Fein would be in line to take the First Minister’s job in any restored ministerial executive in Belfast.

Party president Mary Lou McDonald said she was optimistic Stormont could return before the next legislative deadline for forming an administration, February 8.

“I am optimistic having heard Jeffrey Donaldson’s public declaration that we will see the northern institutions back up and running before the February 8 deadline with a fully functioning Assembly and Executive and north south bodies,” she said.

“Sinn Fein will now engage with the parties and both governments to ensure we now all press on without delay.

“It is vital there is political stability to address the scale of the crisis across our public services.

“Let’s now focus minds on the job at hand and to the solutions required to support workers and families who want and deserve functioning government," she said.