The chair of the Loyalist Communities Council has said there can’t be a return to Stormont until the DUP’s issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol are resolved.
It comes as the four parties with an ability to form an Executive are set to meet with Chris Heaton-Harris at Hillsborough Castle later – although as pre-Christmas deal has been ruled out.
The Secretary of State is expected to set out his next steps after offering a deal of £2.5 billion for Stormont’s return.
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster radio programme, David Campbell said: “None of the issues are beyond the capability of politicians to resolve.”
But he added: “There has to be a realistic will in London, Dublin and Brussels to resolve them and go back to the priority guarantees of the Belfast Agreement. They can’t just work with nationalism, they have to work for unionism as well.”
The Irish Sea border and public services budget are both important as the parties negotiate with the government, Campbell said. “But the representatives I work with are primarily focused on getting the politics right,” he added.
“The reason for the collapse of Stormont is primarily over the imposition of the Protocol and the breaches of the Belfast Agreement – that is the primary issue that needs to be resolved to get Stormont up and running. The budgetary issue is secondary but it is also very important.
“We should be mindful that the current impasse in spending is down to external factors such as the cost of living, the Ukraine war, the impact of the situation in the Middle East – none of these issues are something the Stormont Assembly can deal with.”
The government has a duty to deal with the “real financial need” in Northern Ireland, he added.
No one is seeing the detail of any potential deal but he said: “We can’t simply have such a distance between two parts of our own country.”
Mr Campbell said there are many issues which need to be addressed. “You see the replacement of meat products and fish products that were once sourced from Great Britain and are now being sourced from the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in the EU. Those are practical issues that need to be addressed.”
He added: “I very firmly want Stormont up and running. The cause of unionism is best advanced and protected through full participation in Stormont but it has to be on a level playing field ”
https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/no-stormont-return-unless-protocol-resolved-says-loyalist-communities-council-chair/a2110339880.html
by BuggerMyElbow