Afternoon summary
Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland, is poised to become the first nationalist first minister at Stormont after the DUP said it would be lifting its boycott of power sharing. The DUP agreed to resume participation in the power sharing executive, which has been suspended for almost two years, on the basis of a deal agreed with the UK government to revise some of the post-Brexit trading rules that disadvantaged Northern Ireland. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, played down the significance of O’Neill becoming first minister (see 3.51pm), but it is bound to be seen as a historic moment for Northern Ireland, where the unionists have been the dominant political community for most of the last century and where Sinn Féin was for many years marginalised because of its links with the IRA. Donaldson also claimed the deal was a victory for his party, because it confounded critics who claimed the DUP would never be able to change the legal terms of the Windsor framework. (See 4.49pm.) Details of the deal have not yet been published, and it is possible that their release tomorrow will lead to claims that Donaldson has over-sold what has been achieved. But with Sinn Féin and other parties welcoming the prospect of Stormont being revised, Dublin and Brussels apparently relaxed about the Windsor framework being altered, and no significant figures from the DUP speaking out against the deal, the Northern Ireland executive does seem on course to return within days.
Updated
Donaldson says DUP has confounded critics who said it would never be able to achieve 'legal change' to Windsor framework
Here are some more quotes from what Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said in his news conference at Stormont this afternoon.
Donaldson, the DUP leader, said he had confounded critics who claimed his party would never be able to achieve legal changes to the Windsor framework. He said:
Those who said there will be no legal change, who were predicting things would fall short, I simply asked people to wait and see the outcome. Wait and see the evidence and judge for yourself what this deal does, what it delivers, the change that it secures. I believe we are now beginning to see on day one that delivery coming through.
He said the DUP had negotiated the removal of extra checks on goods coming from Britain to Northern Ireland and due to stay there. He said:
On checks, on goods, moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and staying within the UK, there will no longer be physical checks, identity checks, save where, as is normal in any part of the UK, there is a suspicion of smuggling, of criminal activity; that is the same for every part of the United Kingdom.
He said “supplementary” customs declarations would no longer be needed. He said:
On customs paperwork, customs declarations, supplementary declarations, will be gone and therefore we believe this represents a significant change.
And he said the “green lane”, a Windsor framework arrangement for goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland and not destined for Ireland, would go. He said:
As far as we are concerned, the green lane will go and be replaced by the UK internal market system that reflects the reality that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, that goods flowing within the United Kingdom, flow freely.
That was our core key objective and I believe what we have secured represents real change and everybody will be able to see it for themselves.
James Crisp from the Telegraph reported on this last week – although he suggested the the rebranding was partly cosmetic.
So offer to DUP, as I understand it, is as follows.
— James Crisp (@JamesCrisp6) January 26, 2024
Patriotic rebrand of WF Green Lane to “UK Internal Market Lane”.
All new laws to be screened to ensure they don’t have “significant adverse impact” on GB-NI trade.
Warm words promising to negotiate more cuts with EU
7/
So offer to DUP, as I understand it, is as follows.
Patriotic rebrand of WF Green Lane to “UK Internal Market Lane”.
All new laws to be screened to ensure they don’t have “significant adverse impact” on GB-NI trade.
Warm words promising to negotiate more cuts with EU
Donaldson suggested that the Northern Ireland executive could reform very soon, although he said this was dependent on the UK government bringing forward legislation.
He played down the significance of Northern Ireland having a Sinn Féin first minister. Asked how significant it was that people would be serving under a Sinn Féin FM, he replied:
The offices is a joint office [because first minister and deputy FM carry equal weight in decision making]. The DUP has in the past shared that joint office. We are democrats.
The electoral results are there. I wish it had been different, of course. Like any political party you want to win the elections. I hope that from a unionist point of view we are learning the lessons that divisions in unionism, especially at election time, do not win unionist seats.
He also said he hoped unionism would “get its act together” in future so there were more unionist MLAs at Stormont.
Updated
