Sinn Fein restates willingness to reform powersharing government

Sinn Fein has restated that it is willing to re-enter powersharing government in Northern Ireland ahead of a final effort to resurrect the Stormont Assembly.

However, the DUP appears to be standing firm that it will not participate until the London government takes action to address unionist concerns over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

MLAs will return to Stormont at noon in a last-gasp bid to restore the executive before fresh Assembly elections are called.

The sitting will see an attempt to elect a new speaker – a prerequisite before an executive can be appointed – but that bid is set to fail as the DUP will use its veto to block it.

The special sitting comes just hours ahead of a deadline for calling another election.

Sinn Fein president Mary-Lou McDonald said “common sense” and “good will” are needed.

“The Assembly will meet today, we will invite again our unionist colleagues to come into the executive to provide government for everyone irrespective of their political view and to make some progress and to protect people quite frankly during what will be a very difficult winter,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

“If unionism will not do that then we’re facing into an election. Just so we’re clear if after that election we still have this stalemate, this refusal by unionism to accept change in Ireland, but also to accept the democratic outcome of an election, and if there are no institutions, then we’re not looking at a return to direct rule from London, we will in fact be looking at a partnership arrangement, and joint authority involving Dublin and the government in London.”

But DUP MLA Emma Little-Pengelly has insisted the Northern Ireland Protocol is the barrier to reviving the Stormont Assembly.

“I think most people out there will wonder what an election will achieve. I think it is disappointing that the Secretary of State instead of working with his colleagues to try to deal with the protocol resolved, that’s the barrier to getting the institutions restored, it’s a barrier for good reason,” she told BBC Radio Ulster.

“We’ve been making the case to try and get the issues resolved for three years now, that hasn’t been done. Instead of getting on and doing that, the Secretary of State is pushing everyone into an election.”

Irish deputy premier Leo Varadkar has said it is “regrettable” that people in Northern Ireland could be facing another election.

“I don’t know for sure what decision will be made by the Secretary of State,” Mr Varadkar said.

“It is anticipated though that there will be fresh elections in Northern Ireland, it’s impossible to predict the outcome of an election.

“As things look today, the results will be much the same as it was in the last election, with no clear majority for unionist combined or nationalist combined. Probably Sinn Fein will have the largest party again.

“I think there will be a clear majority of MLAs, who don’t want the protocol scrapped, re-elected and that has to be taken into account.

“But you can never predict for sure what’s going to happen in any election. But I do regret that is happening. It is happening because one party has decided not to participate, and that’s the DUP.

“I think that’s very much regrettable. If that happens, we’ll deal with the situation as it develops.”

He added: “I would like to hear the voice of the DUP in Northern Ireland government but that’s not possible at the moment.”

A six-month legislative timeframe to form an administration expires just after midnight early on Friday.

If no ministerial executive is in place by then, the UK Government assumes a legal responsibility to call another election.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has repeatedly warned that he will call a Stormont poll if Friday’s deadline passes without a devolved executive being formed.

Mr Heaton-Harris met Northern Ireland political party leaders on Wednesday and reiterated the importance of restoring the executive.

He said: “Since I have become Secretary of State, I have consistently been clear that if the executive is not formed by October 28, I will call an election.

“Time is running out, and people in Northern Ireland deserve locally elected decision-makers and an executive who can respond to the issues facing people, families and communities across Northern Ireland during this challenging time.

“We are clear that people deserve an accountable devolved government and that was my message to party leaders.”

The DUP has refused to engage with the devolved institutions in Belfast in the wake of May’s Assembly election, meaning it has not been possible to form an executive.

The party’s boycott is part of a campaign of opposition to Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol and the DUP says it will not return to powersharing until decisive action is taken to remove the protocol’s economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation – the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill – which would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.

During the Stormont recall, MLAs are set to debate a motion, tabled by Sinn Fein in consultation with the Alliance Party, that will focus on the cost-of-living crisis, the instability at Westminster and the absence of devolved government at Stormont.

The first failed attempt to elect a new speaker came in May following the election.

The Assembly has been recalled on two further occasions since, most recently in August.

While Northern Ireland has no first or deputy first ministers, other ministers who served in the previous mandate have remained in post following May’s election, albeit they have been significantly constrained in the decisions they can take.

If Friday’s deadline passes without a full executive having been established, those remaining ministers will cease to hold office.