The party led by Jeffrey Donaldson threatens Boris Johnson with “not proposing ministers for the Executive” of unity with Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland
The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, stated on Monday that his party will boycott the restoration of the autonomous Executive in Northern Ireland after the last elections in which Sinn Féin, historically associated with the IRA terrorist group, won the greater number of seats. This confirmation came after his meeting with the British Minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis.
“We have made our position very clear to him,” Donaldson explained. “Until the UK Government takes decisive action on the Protocol (of ‘Brexit’) we will not propose ministers for the Executive,” he warned. “It is already having a damaging impact on our economy, increasing the cost of living, impeding the ability of our companies to do business with Britain,” he added.
The leader of a DUP that has lost fewer seats and votes than the polls predicted closed his warning by stressing that “fundamentally, the Protocol undermines our political stability and the principle of consensus that is at the heart of our institutions.” “We need to get this resolved,” Donaldson said, as those elected to the Belfast Assembly began their accreditation.
The expectations are now transferred to the Government of Boris Johnson, who will present his legislative program on Tuesday. In particular, he will mention in the Queen’s Speech the kind of initiative that London will undertake to please its Ulster allies. In April, the newspaper ‘Financial Times’ stated that it was preparing a bill to repeal, as it did in 2020, parts of the EU Withdrawal Agreement.
But Minister Lewis has left a trail of confusion, stating on Wednesday that he will not include a bill to change aspects of the Protocol and explaining on Sunday that his words were misunderstood. He later stated that “all possibilities are on the table” and that “we will do what we have to do.” In chorus with the deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, who used almost identical expressions.
Consensus
In a statement, Angela McGowan, director for the region of the Confederation of British Industry, the largest association of employers, does not mention the Protocol. She focuses on the benefits of a collaboration between a new Executive and companies.
The Protocol signed by Brussels and London to make ‘Brexit’ possible establishes that the Northern Ireland Assembly will decide every four years by majority the continuity of the regulations that allow Northern Ireland to be at the same time in the common market and in the British.
The only party of significant size in Northern Ireland that called for a vote to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum was the DUP. He won the vote for permanence in the region by 56% against 44%. Businessmen are not alarmed by the economic effect of the Protocol, while the DUP interprets the consensus required by the Good Friday Agreement as a guarantee of its right to veto.
According to Newton Emerson, a Unionist commentator in Dublin’s ‘The Irish Times’, ‘the DUP takes Northern Ireland’s patience for granted’. “How long can the second party in Belfast stall Home Rule for something that everyone knows is a face-saving attempt?” he wonders. And to all this mess is now added Boris Johnson, who as British Prime Minister insisted after signing the ‘Brexit’ that there would be no border controls in Northern Ireland.
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