Hopes high for return by DUP to Stormont

SENIOR DUP figures have held discussions on potentially ending their Stormont boycott, but party sources downplayed the prospects of a final decision being taken last night.

The meeting was called amid mounting speculation that the DUP is preparing to make a call on whether or not to accept a UK government deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Downing Street expressed hope the Stormont impasse could soon be resolved while Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described the meeting as a ‘positive sign’.

The devolved institutions at Stormont have been collapsed for almost two years as a result of the DUP boycott in protest at the Brexit-linked economic barriers on trade between Britain and the North.

Northern secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said before Christmas that his negotiations with the DUP over the terms of the Windsor Framework – the UK/ EU accord that governs trade between Britian and the North – had concluded.

Although the party has been holding out since then for more clarification on the Government’s proposals, it appears to be approaching the juncture when it decides whether to reject or accept the deal that would end the powersharing deadlock.

One senior DUP source said: ‘It is clear that the time for a decision has arrived. The negotiation is over.’

Any proposed return to Stormont would be expected to be strongly opposed by some of the DUP’s 12 party officers who have made clear that devolution should only be restored when all of their concerns over the Irish Sea trading border have been addressed.

The officer board includes senior figures such as party leader Jeffrey Donaldson, deputy leader Gavin Robinson, Nigel Dodds and longstanding MPs Sammy Wilson and Gregory Campbell.

In a statement yesterday evening, a DUP spokesman said: ‘We understand that there has been considerable interest in our meeting today.

‘We will not give a running commentary on our position, save to say we will continue to engage with the [British] government.’

Expectations had been raised before the Christmas break that the DUP could finally be poised to return to powersharing, but it did not materialise.

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