PM Johnson urges end to Northern Ireland deadlock

LONDON >> British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is heading to Northern Ireland on Monday to try to end a political deadlock that is preventing the formation of a regional administration.

The trip comes amid threats by Johnson’s government to break the Brexit agreement with the European Union that it blames for the crisis.

Voters in Northern Ireland elected a new Assembly this month, in an election that saw Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein win the most seats. It was the first time a party that seeks union with the Republic of Ireland has won an election in the bastion of Protestant unionist power.

The Democratic Unionist Party came second and is refusing to form a government, or even allow the assembly to sit, until Johnson’s government scraps post-Brexit checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. Under power-sharing rules, a government can’t be formed without the cooperation of both nationalist and unionist parties.