Sir Jeffrey Donaldson will brief DUP executive members later on Monday
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leaders will be briefed on Monday about a potential deal to restore power-sharing at Stormont.
Party leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson is expected to provide a “detailed update”.
However, BBC News NI understands that no meeting with party leaders is planned and that only party leaders have the power to strike a deal.
Almost two years ago, the DUP toppled its leadership in protest against a post-Brexit trade deal.
The party is in talks with the UK government seeking changes to the arrangements agreed in the UK-EU Windsor Framework Agreement.
It said the meeting would be held in a “safe venue” and the location and directions would be distributed on Monday.
The DUP has more than 120 senior members, including MLAs, party officers and others.
In an email sent to these members, the party’s chief executive wrote: “We apologize for the short notice of the meeting, but due to circumstances beyond our control, officers have decided to…wait the normal notice period for calling a meeting.”
Executives were also asked not to discuss details of the meeting with the media.
What might an agreement include?
I have not seen the deal proposed to the DUP and have not been briefed on it, but it seems central to the Government’s proposals to limit the UK’s active deviations from EU rules on traded goods. It means choosing to do something. creating difficulties for Northern Ireland.
Because Northern Ireland remained within the EU single market for goods after Brexit, the EU is currently restricting the movement of goods from the UK to Northern Ireland in case non-EU approved products enter its territory. is required to be regulated.
image source, Michael Cooper/Getty Images
The most important part of the deal will affect how British goods are imported from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
The Daily Telegraph reports that to limit aggressive divergence, new UK laws need to be reviewed in relation to EU rules to ensure they do not have a significant negative impact on trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. It was reported that it means.
So would the UK be willing to agree to EU rule changes for the same purpose? To me, that is a big unanswered question.
Other aspects of the transaction being considered include:
- East-West political body similar to the North-South Council of Ministers that discusses mutual interests between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom
- InterTrade is a business organization similar to Ireland, but focused on promoting trade between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.
- Windsor Framework Green Lane to be renamed UK Domestic Market Lane
- New legal guarantees of access for Northern Ireland traders selling into the UK
There will still be differences in the way trade is conducted in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK, but can these be minimized to an extent acceptable to DUP members?
“DUP/Sinn Féin curve up”?
On Monday, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie told Good Morning Ulster that he believed, at least internally, that the DUP would make a decision later, but that he would wait to see what the government did.
“Tonight, unelected members of the DUP are to be briefed in detail on the deal and I am here as a leader of the party entitled to join the executive, but I have yet to hear anything about its contents. I have heard that Sinn Féin also understands the contents of this transaction.
“There seems to be a split between the DUP and Sinn Féin in every executive.”
image source, Reuters/Cloda Kilcoyne
Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O’Neill has repeatedly called on the DUP to return to power-sharing in Stormont.
Lord Hay, a DUP peer and former parliamentary leader, told the program that the meeting was “solely for party leaders to update grassroots MPs on the status of discussions with the government”.
He added: “The real traitors within the trade unions are those who constantly protest against the party, even within the party, and what they are doing is damaging to the trade union now and in the future. Only,” he added.
“There’s only one place to go”
Alliance MP Nuala McAllister said she expected the DUP to make “the right decision for everyone in Northern Ireland” and had detected a shift in the party’s tone.
“Time is running out for a long time and there is really only one place to go and that is for the DUP to return to the executive and parliament,” she said.
Nuala McAllister’s Alliance Party is now Stormont’s third-largest party, with 17 seats in the 2022 election.
Sinn Féin councilor Conor Murphy said “the period of upheaval is over” as he reiterated the DUP’s calls for a return to power-sharing in Stormont.
He accused the DUP of “internal diversion” at a time when Northern Ireland’s public service faces “huge challenges” without a senior leader.
Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood said the DUP conference was “obviously important”.
“Now is the time for decisions,” he added.
Is Monday a moving day for the DUP?
In golf, there is a term called moving day, a day when players take risks and try to push themselves up the leaderboard.
It takes place the day before the final round, allowing players to position themselves to be the first to cross the finish line.
Monday feels like moving day for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
But it’s a risky day for Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.
Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister, Baroness Kate Hoey, Ben Habib and Jamie Bryson have jointly published a paper expressing their opposition to any deal.
They warned the DUP not to “implement the trade union dissolution protocol” that the party previously opposed.
They said in a statement: “If we return to Stormont now, the perversion of borders and constitutional obscenity in the Irish Sea will be perpetuated by the acceptance of the DUP.”
TUV leader Jim Allister is among those to publish papers expressing opposition to any deal.
Speaking in Stormont on Monday, Mr Allister said: “If the DUP decides to return to Stormont, it will be a decision to accept the protocol and take ownership.”
He added that if the Irish Sea border remained, “it would be a point of no return because we would be accepting that Northern Ireland will never again be fully part of the United Kingdom.” .
Last week, the deadline for reinstating devolution was extended to February 8th. If there is no executive by then, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris will be legally obliged to call an election.
It is understood that he may instead put in place a new governance structure that would include an expanded role for London.