It was known that the DUP would not agree to the power sharing executive in Northern Ireland until it felt that its concerns with the protocol had been addressed. What was not known was whether it would consent to the election of a speaker for the assembly. Today it said it would not and so no speaker has been elected. This means that the assembly cannot function.
The DUP’s aim is to increase the pressure for compromise on the protocol. It is saying that it will not allow the devolved institutions to function until it gets the changes it wants.
Boris Johnson will go to Northern Ireland on Monday. We can expect him to urge the parties to form an executive while repeating his view that there must be changes to the protocol. But, at the moment, the UK demands for change – and its threat of unilateral action – are not shifting opinion in Brussels.
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