Ulster power-sharing talks collapse

POWER-SHARING talks in Northern Ireland ended in acrimony yesterday as Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster said there was no prospect of restoring devolved government to the region.

Sinn Fein blamed Mrs Foster’s party for the breakdown, while the DUP itself tried to blame Theresa May. The Prime Minister travelled to Stormont on Monday hoping to push forward a breakthrough that would end a 13-month political impasse. But the move came to nothing yesterday after Mrs Foster pulled out of talks.

It means that devolved government will not be restored in Ulster for the foreseeable future – which could result in the imposition of direct rule from Westminster. The DUP’s 10 MPs are helping to prop up the Conservatives in the Commons.

Simon Hamilton of the DUP suggested that Mrs May’s trip may have made matters worse, by being ‘a bit of a distraction’. The parties failed to clinch agreement on touchstone issues such as treatment of the Irish language.