Boris Johnson urges parties to NI to "seal a power-sharing agreement"

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Boris Johnson urged political parties in Northern Ireland to step up their efforts to restore decentralized government, during discussions in Belfast.

The Prime Minister held a series of meetings with the five main parties of Stormont, during which Brexit was also discussed.

NI has been without a government since January 2017, when the power-sharing coalition / Sinn Féin collapsed.

On Tuesday, Johnson held a private meeting with key figures from the DUP on which he is supporting Parliament.

The Prime Minister left Northern Ireland on Wednesday afternoon and a spokesman for Downing Street said Johnson had told the parties that constructive progress had been made in the negotiations at Stormont: "A commitment serious and intense is now necessary to achieve this.

The spokesman added that Johnson had announced to the parties that the UK would leave the EU on Oct. 31 "at all costs" and that its intention was to do so by an agreement.

In all scenarios, the government was committed to the agreement on Good Friday and in no case would there be any physical checks or infrastructure at the border, they said.

Border survey

Following her talks with Mr. Johnson, Arlene Foster, leader of the DUP, said that "talking about a poll at the border" was not something Boris Johnson was "entertaining".

She met with the Prime Minister, along with DUP MPs Nigel Dodds, Emma Little-Pengelly and Gavin Robinson.

Sinn Féin said that if a Brexit without agreement took place, the government had to hold a referendum on Irish unity "immediately".

But Foster said the Conservative government "will never be neutral on the union".

She stated that the discussions on the trust and supply pact that the two parties share were for "another day", but she defended the £ 1 billion of expenditures for NI that the DUP had obtained through the past.

The question of what will happen at the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit – and the proposed reinforcement for Ireland – has caused deep divisions between the two countries. parties in Stormont.

The insurance policy negotiated under the UK / EU exit agreement aims to keep the border as transparent as it is now and avoid border controls at land borders.

But Mr. Johnson spoke of "monstrosity".

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Johnson first met Sinn Féin on Wednesday before meeting with smaller parties and continuing discussions with the DUP.

After the meeting, Sinn Féin's president, Mary Lou McDonald, said that she had told the prime minister that he should not be "the gopher of the DUP".

Ms McDonald stated that she did not believe in the Prime Minister 's badertion that he would act with "total impartiality" with regard to all parties to the NI.

"It's not our business that is eating with whom, but the politics of this party, it is the DUP, that has been used to guarantee … the continuous denial of rights and encroach on the opinions of the majority of people living here, "McDonald added.

During the talks, several protesters rallied outside, including a group of shipyard workers from Harland and Wolff who are pressuring the government to renationalize his workplace.

The Norwegian company Dolphin Drilling, of the Belfast company, is experiencing serious financial problems and put Harland and Wolff on sale at the end of last year.

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Irish language activists, anti-Brexit protesters and the families of those who died in Ballymurphy in 1971 joined Stormont in calling for government action on inheritance issues.

Stormont is talking

Northern Ireland has not been ruled directly by Westminster for more than ten years, but without a government since 2017.

Several attempts to relaunch the transfer of responsibilities have already failed.

The DUP must renew the trust and supply agreement upon which the Conservative Party of Mr. Johnson relies for a majority of work in the House of Commons.

The NI secretary met with the leaders of the five main parties on Wednesday afternoon and asked the five independent working groups to hold further meetings and report to him in the coming days.

He then said that he would discuss further measures with the Irish government.