‘Very good’ talks drive Northern Ireland deal

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney and newly-appointed Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley will meet again next week in the hope of making progress on the power sharing deadlock.

Mr Coveney, who flew into London from a visit to the Middle East to meet Ms Bradley, said the talks had been “very good” and he expected they were “going to work very well together”.

The Irish deputy prime minister said there remained “significant challenges”, but both governments wanted to resolve the stand-off.

“There are time constraints in terms of the work that we need to do, but also I think everybody agrees that we want devolved government again in Northern Ireland,” he said.

The meeting came after a week where political relations in Northern Ireland were further strained.