Northern Ireland fails to elect new speaker blocking formation of new government

Northern Ireland’s Stormont Assembly has failed to elect a new speaker for the second time, once again blocking the formation of a new government.

The DUP refused to back the move, arguing it needed to see action from the UK government over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Unionists oppose the post-Brexit treaty because of the economic barriers it creates between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The two nominees for the role, the Ulster Unionists’ Mike Nesbitt and the SDLP’s Patsy McGlone, failed to secure the necessary support from MLAs.

The Assembly’s plenary session was then suspended as business cannot be carried out without a speaker.

MLAs had returned to the chamber on Monday following a recall petition brought by Sinn Fein to elect a speaker, deputy speakers and to appoint a first minister and deputy first minister.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill had earlier told the chamber: “The people have spoken and they want action, not protest.

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“They want the parties and every single MLA elected to this democratic institution to get their sleeves rolled up and to get down to business.”

She added: “The DUP’s stand-off is with the public and not with the European Union.

“As I stand here today I am ready to work with others.”

Ireland correspondent

The people in this part of the UK are well used to long periods without a functioning government – they’re also very familiar with the posturing of the various political parties as they fail to deliver.

Monday’s machinations will have come as no surprise to even the most casual of observers.

The party lines had changed little over the past few days. It was a Sinn Fein ‘stunt’ last week, according to DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, and it was still a Sinn Fein stunt on Monday, according to his colleague Paul Givan.

The DUP insist that Sinn Fein knows all too well the impossibility of them going back into government while the thorny issue of the NI Protocol remains unresolved. That was one of the five planks of their election campaign, and now they are beholden to it.

Sinn Fein, for their part, continue to rail against the DUP’s failure to respect the democratic outcome of this month’s historic election, which saw Sinn Fein emerge as the largest party, and the first minister’s seat being kept warm for Michelle O’Neil.

She too, dutifully repeated the lines – the DUP ‘were holding the people to ransom’. The public ‘want action, not words’, she said. They were being used as ‘bargaining chips… for narrow party interests’.

The upshot of all of this is that – in the middle of a cost of living crisis, and with some of the worst health system waiting lists anywhere in the UK – the people of Northern Ireland must continue to wait for their elected representatives to actually start working.

The largest party says it’s up to the second-largest party to resolve this. The second-largest party says it’s up to politicians in London and Brussels to sort it out. It’s just another day in Northern Ireland politics.

However, DUP MLA Paul Givan said the recall was not a “serious attempt” to restore power sharing.

He said: “Today’s recall is another attempt at majority rule and has no credibility when it comes forward from the party that kept these institutions down for three years.

“The public will see the hypocrisy for what it is from Sinn Fein.

“This isn’t a serious attempt to restore the principles of power sharing and these institutions. It is a stunt.”

The DUP faced criticism last week after concerns were raised that the absence of an Executive will prevent a UK-wide £400 discount on energy bills going to households in Northern Ireland.

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