Britain's Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the political stability of Northern Ireland was in peril until the problems with the protocol governing post-Brexit trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom were fixed.
Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein won the most seats in the election for Northern Ireland's Assembly on Thursday.
The pro-British DUP saw support undermined in part due to its role in post-Brexit talks between London and Brussels that resulted in trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
It's "clear that stability is being put at risk, imperiled if you like, by the problems with Northern Ireland protocol," Raab told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
"We are focused on those two elements, bringing the parties together, stability, but also unlocking the problems with the Northern Ireland protocol," he added.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Edmund Blair)
