The Democratic Unionist party has endorsed a deal with the UK government to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland, paving an end to two years of political deadlock.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the party would revive the mothballed Stormont executive and assembly once the government tabled promised legislation.
“I am pleased to report that the party executive has now endorsed the proposals that I have put to the party,” he told a press conference early on Tuesday after facing down hardline opponents in a dramatic and chaotic five-hour meeting of the party’s 130-member executive. “The result was clear, the DUP has been decisive, I have been mandated to move forward.”
The DUP collapsed Stormont in February 2022 in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements that it said undermined Northern Ireland’s position in the UK. The impasse left civil servants to run Northern Ireland on a form of auto-pilot amid a fiscal crisis, crumbling public services, strikes and doubts about whether devolved government would ever return.
However, the boycott proved popular with DUP supporters and bolstered its electoral position, complicating Donaldson’s effort to abandon the protest.
Tuesday morning’s breakthrough paves the way for Sinn Féin, which overtook the DUP as the biggest party in the 2022 assembly election, to take the first minister post for the first time under its deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill – a historic, if symbolic precedent. A DUP member will be eligible to be deputy first minister, a post with equal power but less prestige.
Sinn Féin’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, expressed optimism Stormont could return before an 8 February legislative deadline for forming an administration. “Sinn Féin will now engage with the parties and both governments to ensure we now all press on without delay,” she said.
Donaldson said the deal – yet to be published – would safeguard Northern Ireland’s place in the UK and restore its place in the UK internal market. “It will remove checks for goods moving within the UK and remaining in Northern Ireland and will end Northern Ireland automatically following future EU laws,” he said.
Conservative MPs will scrutinise the deal, once published, for any sign that Downing Street has weakened the ability to diverge from EU rules.
Rishi Sunak’s administration would need to deliver legislative commitments it made to the DUP before the party would revive power sharing, said Donaldson. “The package of measures will require a significant number of actions to be taken and we look forward with confidence to their ongoing implementation, according to an agreed timeline.”
On that basis the DUP would support convoking the Northern Ireland assembly to elect a speaker and facilitate the nomination of ministers, said Donaldson.
The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, who presided over months of tortuous negotiations with the DUP, welcomed the news and said London would keep its side of the bargain. “I now believe that all the conditions are in place for the assembly to return, the parties entitled to form an executive are meeting tomorrow to discuss these matters and I hope to be able to finalise this deal with the political parties as soon as possible.”
Dublin, Brussels and Washington will also welcome the restoration of Stormont, a central plank of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Many Northern Ireland nurses, teachers, bus drivers and other public sector workers will also welcome a revived executive, which is a condition to unlock a £3.3bn financial package from London.
Donaldson’s victory – and possibly his leadership – will be tested in coming days by hardliners who consider the deal a betrayal that will weaken the union, raising the prospect of a party split. Donaldson did not reveal the size of the majority in favour of the deal.
Senior figures in the DUP, including Sammy Wilson and Nigel Dodds, had warned against a compromise that would merely tweak the Irish Sea border. Dozens of protesters, some holding union jack flags and signs saying “Stop DUP sellout”, picketed the meeting, which ended shortly before 1am.
The Traditional Unionist Voice party and Jamie Bryson, a prominent loyalist, denounced Donaldson. The meeting was supposed to have been confidential but Bryson live-tweeted it, suggesting he had sources inside the room. “There’s only one betrayal, and it is of the mandate given to the DUP,” Bryson tweeted.
