Northern Ireland’s main pro-British party, the DUP, said on Tuesday it supports an agreement with the British government that would see an end to the long-running boycott of the province’s devolved government.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Geoffrey Donaldson will restore Northern Ireland’s parliament for the first time in nearly two years after an internal party vote in favor of the deal was held at a closed-door meeting in Lisburn, near Belfast. He said it would be the basis.
Mr Donaldson told reporters at around 1am (Japan time) after a five-hour meeting and vote: “The result was clear. The DUP was decisive and I had a duty to move forward.” Told.
But he said overcoming the DUP’s veto on the return of Stormont’s power-sharing executive was subject to the UK government passing legislation and a final agreement on a timetable.
Donaldson said details of the deal would be announced soon, but declined to provide further information.
“We believe this proposal will bring forward measures that will be beneficial to Northern Ireland and restore our position in the UK and its domestic market,” he said.
Northern Ireland Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said he was “pleased” that the DUP had accepted the deal and that London would “stand firm” to its terms.
“I now believe that all conditions are in place for the return of Parliament… and I hope that we can finalize this agreement with the political parties as soon as possible,” he said ( (formerly known as Twitter).
– ‘Optimistic’ –
If the deal is approved, the DUP and pro-Irish nationalist Sinn Féin could choose a parliamentary leader as early as next week.
Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill is expected to become first minister, making her the first republican to hold the post since the party overtook the DUP in the last parliamentary election in May 2022. .
In a statement, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she was “optimistic” that northern institutions would be back up and running by the February 8 deadline set by London.
The DUP resigned from its executive branch in February 2022 in protest at the state’s post-Brexit trade deal, known as the Windsor Framework.
The deal was brokered between the UK and the European Union to address problems with a previous agreement, the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Hardline unionists say the revised Windsor Framework Rules will protect Northern Ireland’s status within the United Kingdom, bring the region partially under EU law and put it on the path to a united Ireland. It’s not enough to continue.
In long-running talks with London, the DUP has called for a review of rules, including reducing the amount of checks for goods traveling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The adjournment of parliament has paralyzed Northern Ireland’s power-sharing institutions, fueled political uncertainty and industrial unrest in the region, and disrupted public service delivery as budgets sit in cold storage.
Earlier this month, 16 civil service unions coordinated a major strike over pay, making it the largest industrial action in the UK region in decades.
London has offered the region a 3.3 billion pound ($4.2 billion) financial package to resolve civil service pay disputes, conditional on Stormont’s return.
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