DUP will not nominate ministers unless

DUP will not nominate ministers unless ‘action’ taken over Northern Ireland Protocol

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he had reaffirmed the party’s plans to refuse to nominate a deputy first minister unless the Protocol is scrapped, in talks with the Northern Ireland Secretary today.

Brandon Lewis is currently visiting Belfast, where he held talks with the region’s political leaders following last week’s assembly elections.

Alongside Sir Jeffrey, Sinn Féin leader Michelle O’Neill, Alliance leader Naomi Long, UUP leader Doug Beattie, and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood were all in attendance.

In Thursday’s vote, Irish nationalist party Sinn Féin became the largest party for the first time in its history, with the Democratic Unionist Party coming runners up.

“We have had a meeting this morning with the Secretary of State and we have made our position clear to him,” Sir Jeffrey told reporters.

“It is the position we have held before the election, throughout the election campaign and will continue to hold, and that is until we get decisive action taken by the UK Government on the protocol we will not be nominating ministers to the Executive.”

This comes after a No 10 spokesperson told this afternoon’s lobby briefing that Boris Johnson was not planning to personally intervene in the crunch talks.

“No plans for that. As you know this is being led by Brandon Lewis,” they explained.

“We are not setting a specific timeline. I think certainly some of the issues that all of the parties campaigned on, not least some of these global pressures on cost of living, need urgent action,” they went on.