Joe Biden to meet Northern Ireland leaders as US ‘nudges’ DUP to end Brexit stand-off

Huge security operation under way in Belfast as police recover pipe bombs in Derry

Joe Biden is set to meet the leaders of Northern Ireland’s political parties in Belfast on Wednesday ahead of a speech to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

The US president will hold an informal meeting with the leaders of the five parties at the start of his four-day trip, The Independent understands.

A top ally of President Biden said the US administration would “prod” and “nudge” the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to end its protest over post-Brexit trading arrangements and resume its participation in the power-sharing institutions at Stormont.

Dozens of police officers and secret service vehicles descended on Belfast in a major security operation ahead of the visit.

In Derry, four suspected pipe bombs were recovered from a cemetery where a republican commemoration had been staged on Monday. The PSNI called the discovery of the devices a “sinister and worrying development”. Officers carrying out the operation were attacked with petrol bombs, stones and bottles.

On Monday, missiles were hurled at a police Land Rover during a parade by dissident republicans in the city’s Creggan area.

A White House spokesperson said Mr Biden was “more than comfortable” visiting Northern Ireland despite the recent violence, and was “very excited” about the trip.

While Mr Biden is not expected to make a personal plea to the DUP, his close friend, US congressman Richard Neal, said there would be some “gentle nudging”. Mr Neal told BBC’s Hardtalk that “part of what we want to accomplish here is prodding [the DUP] to sit in government”.

Asked if the Biden administration will use “leverage” to persuade the unionists to drop their protest, the congressman said: “I think there can be some gentle nudging here, understanding that we all want to travel on the path that will bring about what I’ve often referred to as two traditions that live in one community.”

The DUP last month voted in parliament against Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework – a deal agreed with the EU to replace the Northern Ireland protocol and ease trade checks on goods being transported across the Irish Sea. The party is expected to request amendments to the framework, but given the difficulty of making major changes to the text of a treaty, its demands are unlikely to be successful.

Boarding Air Force One bound for Northern Ireland, Mr Biden told reporters that making sure the “Irish accords and Windsor Agreement stay in place” was the main objective of his trip. “It looks like we’re going to keep our fingers crossed,” he added.

A US National Security Council source told The Independent: “We expect President Biden will speak with the political party leaders ahead of his remarks at Ulster.

“As President Biden said in his St Patrick’s Day remarks last month, he joins people across Northern Ireland in looking forward to seeing the return of a devolved government to Northern Ireland. Democratic, power-sharing institutions are at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement.”

Rishi Sunak will be in Belfast to meet Joe Biden (PA Wire)

It comes as Tony Blair, who signed the historic peace deal in April 1998, warned Mr Biden that “pressurising” the unionist community could backfire.

The former prime minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The Americans can play an important part on this, but you have just got to insert them at the right moment and in the right place.”

Mr Blair added: “There is a difference between influencing and pressurising, and the one tends to be positive, the other can be negative.”

Downing Street has denied that Rishi Sunak’s interactions with President Biden in Northern Ireland this week will be “low-key”, despite reports that their talks had been downgraded by the US administration to a coffee meeting.

The prime minister will greet the US president when he arrives late on Tuesday evening, with talks to follow in Belfast the next morning, when he is set to raise the subject of the UK’s “enduring partnership” with the US. The pair are also expected to discuss trade and investment along with other areas of shared interest.

The White House pushed to scale back their meeting from a bilateral to a less formal coffee, The New York Times reported, quoting an official who had dubbed the meeting a “bi-latte”.

Police in Belfast city centre ahead of the arrival of US president Joe Biden (PA)

No 10 also denied that the prime minister had given up on getting the DUP back into power-sharing at Stormont. The PM’s spokesperson said that the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, had a made it a “priority to get the executive up and running”, and that he had had “extensive engagement with the Northern Ireland political parties” in recent months.

Mr Biden will also travel to the Republic of Ireland, where he will carry out a number of engagements during the remainder of his four-day stay, including a visit to County Louth and County Mayo, from where his ancestors hail.