A summary of today's developments
- Sinn Féin is to become the largest party in the Northern Ireland assembly for the first time. It reached 27 seats in the election, pushing the DUP into second place. Michelle O’Neill is now set to become the country’s first nationalist first minister. Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis said: “I encourage the parties to form an executive as soon as possible.”
- Sir Keir Starmer said he is “confident” that he did not breach lockdown rules by having a beer and curry at a campaign event. The Labour leader spoke after Durham constabulary confirmed it was investigating claims an evening event attended by the Labour leader with other senior party figures and activists last year might have broken social distancing regulations.
- Boris Johnson will use the Queen’s Speech as an effort to secure his leadership following a bruising set of local elections which saw the Tories lose control of key authorities and suffer a net loss of more than 400 councillors. The speech on Tuesday, setting out the Government’s priorities, would focus on the economy, health and national security, Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi said as he urged Tory MPs to rally around the Prime Minister.
- The Aspire party has taken control of Tower Hamlets in East London from Labour. On Friday, Aspire’s Lutfur Rahman defeated Labour incumbent John Biggs to become the elected mayor of Tower Hamlets.
- Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross has no plans to quit as leader despite losing 60 councillors in the local elections. The day after his party dropped to third place in Scotland, he said he would “try to do better” and continue fighting against the SNP.
Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said it was “incumbent on all political parties” to form an executive in Northern Ireland.
Reacting to the results of the Northern Ireland assembly election, he said: “I would like to congratulate all of the successful candidates on their election.
“It is now incumbent on all political parties and elected representatives to deliver on their mandate, through the nomination of a first and deputy first minister and the formation of a new executive to serve the interests of all of the people of Northern Ireland.
Power-sharing and principles of partnership, equality and mutual respect are at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement, through which peace has been secured and progress achieved for almost 25 years.
“A new power-sharing executive is vital for progress and prosperity for all in Northern Ireland.
“As a co-guarantor of the Good Friday agreement, the government will continue to work in partnership with the British government and engage with the leaders of the political parties in Northern Ireland to seek and support the effective operation of all of the political institutions of the agreement.”
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