Mr Stormont: Party leaders meet ahead of parliamentary sitting

Party leaders and stakeholders met to discuss issues important to Stormont’s next executive.

Northern Ireland’s parliament will sit in session on Saturday, marking exactly two years since power-sharing collapsed.

DUP leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson said his party would end its boycott after MPs passed a new deal bill on post-Brexit trading rules.

Pay has been cut by almost a third since January 2023, when Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris enacted it.

The Northern Ireland Office confirmed the decision expires at the end of Sunday, the day after a new parliamentary leader is elected.

Leaders of the four parties entitled to seats on the decision-making Stormont council are meeting to finalize arrangements for Saturday’s special meeting.

The talks are scheduled to take place on Saturday at 13:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

When MLAs enter the chamber, their first task is to elect a new Speaker. This must be done before anything else.

Once the chair is elected, the nomination will be made by the parties eligible to co-lead the Executive, Northern Ireland’s decision-making and policy body.

Sinn Féin will appoint its first minister for the first time as it won the most seats in the May 2022 parliamentary elections.

For the first time as the largest united party, the DUP will appoint a deputy prime minister.

Although the first minister and deputy first minister are joint offices with equal powers, it will be a symbolic moment for Michelle O’Neill to become the first Republican prime minister of Northern Ireland.

This will reduce checks and paperwork for goods being transported to Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK.

This means there will no longer be “routine” checks on British goods sent to Northern Ireland for the purpose of staying in Northern Ireland.

These changes include the maximum flexibility allowed under the previous EU/UK agreement, which is understood to be acceptable to the EU.

The DUP had called for changes to the way goods are traded between Northern Ireland and the UK to resolve the Stormont standoff.

The return of Stormont’s power-sharing executive means the UK Treasury will announce a £3.3bn package to support Northern Ireland’s struggling public services.

“What the UK Government is proposing as part of the package is to cover public sector pay support for a limited period of one year,” he said.

The DUP leader said this equates to around £650m, but Northern Ireland currently “doesn’t have the funding for the next two years and the Government recognizes that it needs to be resolved”. Stated.

He said he believed the UK government had reached a point where it “recognized there was a shortfall” and that a number of meetings would be held to address regular funding.

Sir Jeffrey said if funding could not be secured, the newly created executive would not be able to resolve the ongoing pay dispute without drawing money from the £1bn stabilization fund.

He continued that without sufficient government funding, many issues will not be able to be addressed, including the health service, which he said is an “absolute priority” for Stormont.

The Social Democratic Party and Labor Party (SDLP) is the fifth party with eight members, but it is not eligible to be a member of the next executive committee and will become an opposition party.

SDLP MP Matthew O’Toole told BBC NI’s Good Morning Ulster program that the opposition intends to hold executives to account and make the system “work effectively for the people of Northern Ireland”. Ta.

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) will not be in opposition at Stormont, but instead will hold executive cabinet positions.

Leader Doug Beattie had previously said he wanted to become part of the official opposition party, but said the party’s mission was to return to government.

He said the decision was based on a “sense of unity” that the parties were prepared to work well together in the next executive, but added that all departments would face financial hardships. .

The party has not announced which cabinet positions it will contest, but it will be the fifth candidate to nominate.

Allied parties will also be given seats on the executive committee. However, it has not yet been confirmed whether he will join the government or the opposition party.

Andrew Muir, from the Alliance Party, told BBC NI’s The View: “There are advantages to being in the opposition, but there are also huge advantages to being in government.”

On Friday, a group of trade unionists, including Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister and activist Jamie Bryson, published a legal opinion by former Northern Ireland Attorney-General John Larkin KC.

Allister said Larkin concluded that “nothing restores Section 6 of the Confederation Act and it remains suspended. The consequences are incalculable.”

He added: “We shared so many platforms with Jeffrey Donaldson. Faced with the confusion that comes with this deal, we want to get rid of it and assess what the legal realities are.” I thought so,” he added.

Mr Allister questioned legal advice from Sir Geoffrey who claimed his deal removed the Irish Sea border and restored Northern Ireland’s place in the UK’s internal market.

Sir Jeffrey has called rival unionists to task in recent days, accusing them of achieving “nothing” on changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Alistair said: “Sir Geoffrey took on this task and he has failed. There is no use trying to deflect from it.”

Sir Jeffrey told reporters on Friday that he “fundamentally disagrees” with Mr Larkin’s legal opinion.

“Jim Allister – is that the best he can do?” he added.

“What I’ve been communicating is change. I’ve been on stage with Jim Allister and he talks a lot, he shouts a lot, but his actions have nothing to show for it.”