Northern Ireland news - live: Reunification vote ‘within decade,’ suggests Sinn Fein
Irish nationalist party has hailed ‘new era’ after emerging after winning most seats in Stormont for first time
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The leader of Sinn Fein has stepped up calls for a poll on Irish reunification - and claimed this will happen over the course of the next decade.
Mary Lou McDonald asked for all-Ireland citizens assembly to discuss the idea now after her republican party took the most seats in the Northern Ireland assembly election.
Also on Sunday, the British deputy prime minister said stability in the country was “imperilled” by problems with its post-Brexit agreement.
The unionist DUP will refuse to serve with Sinn Fein in a power-sharing executive unless there are major changes to the Northern Ireland protocol.
Dominic Raab told Sky News: “It’s clear from the dynamic that we now see that we won’t get to that position of stability unless and until it is fixed.”
Over in Westminster, Boris Johnson is planning to announce new laws that will “deliver on the promise of Brexit” as he looks to bounce back from a bruising set of local election results for the Tory party.
Corbyn congratulates O’Neill
Jeremy Corbyn has congratulated Michelle O’Neill on Sinn Fein’s “historic” win:
More Partygate fines?
In other news, the Metropolitan Police are believed to have begun issuing more fines to Downing Street staff over gatherings held in government offices during Covid lockdown curbs.
Adam Forrest has more:
Metropolitan Police fines ‘issued over No 10 Christmas party’
Fresh fines said to have landed at No 10, as ministers ramp up ‘Beergate’ attacks on Keir Starmer
The ‘Labour gains are a turning point for our party'
Back to local elections for a second, Lisa Nandy has written for The Independent about how Labour view the results
“The Labour gains on Thursday are a turning point for our party,” she says.
“Put simply, a Labour party that can win in Worthing, Wandsworth and Cumberland is one that can unite this country and help us move forwards after a decade of darkness and division.”
Read here:
Labour gains at the local elections are a turning point for our party | Lisa Nandy
For Labour, this is the end of one chapter and the start of another
‘We were not immune’ to PM criticism, Scottish Tory leader says about election results
The Scottish Tory leader has blamed issues facing the party in Westminster for losses in his country.
“Here in Scotland we were not immune from the criticism of the prime minister and of Partygate,” Douglass Ross told BBC.
He said: “The results across the UK show the public have decided to send a protest vote against the prime minister and Partygate in this election mainly by staying at home not by switching to other parties.
“We saw the same here in Scotland.”
Boris Johnson will survive Partygate ‘distraction’, says Raab
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab insisted Boris Johnson will stay on as prime minister despite “challenging” local election results and the Partygate scandal that he dismissed as a “distraction”.
He told Sky News: “I’m confident that he can and will win the next election.”
Then, when asked on LBC if the PM would face a confidence vote, the deputy PM said: “No, I don’t think so.”
He added: “Clearly, Partygate has been a distraction. We’ve got to get rid of those distractions. But the point is, we are focusing with a laser-like precision on the cost of living.”
Mr Raab also admitted the Liberal Democrat resurgence in the south of England would mean he faces a “tough fight” in his own Esher and Walton seat in Surrey.
‘Frustrating’ lack of flexibility from EU over protocol - Lewis
Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has said he will meet with the leaders of the Stormont parties tomorrow to talk about resurrecting the Assembly.
He urged DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to nominate a deputy first minister to get the executive working again, after the unionist party vowed not to restart power-sharing with Sinn Fein until the protocol checks are ditched.
But Mr Lewis also said the issue of protocol needed to be “resolved” – blaming the EU for failing to agree to ditch the checks signed into law as part of the Brexit deal.
“It is really frustrating that the EU have not shown the flexibility we need to see to get that resolution,” told Sky News.
The NI secretary added: “It’s more frustrating to hear over the last couple of days that the EU seem to be saying they’re not willing to show any sort of flexibility to get this resolved.”
On the UK government’s threat of unilateral action, Mr Lewis added: “We’ve always said we take nothing of the table, and that hasn’t changed. We will do what we need to do … There is a point we will have to make some decisions.”
Put to him that the government was “dancing to the DUP’s tune”, Mr Lewis said the idea was a “misnomer” – claiming all communities had issues with the protocol.
Legislation prepared with the aim of overriding the protocol is not expected to be included in next week’s Queen’s Speech, but The Independent understands it could still be introduced later in the parliamentary session.
Tories urged to resist desire to ‘smash up’ institutions
Damian Green has called for an end to ministers’ “culture war” attacks on the BBC and the judiciary.
The senior Tory MP said the strategy was losing the party voters in the south of England.
The former minister said the poor local election results in so-called blue wall heartlands reflected distaste for “embarrassing” government.
Voters “want a government that seeks to unite society, and resists the urge to declare culture wars on institutions like the judiciary or the BBC,” he also said in an article for the Sunday Telegraph.
Mr Green continued: “They believe Conservatism involves respect for institutions, not a revolutionary desire to smash them up. They also want a calm, competent government that is not embarrassing.”
More on this story here by Adam Forrest
Stop culture war attacks on BBC to save ‘blue wall’, says senior Tory
Traditional Tory voters in south find government ‘embarrassing’, says Damian Green
Civil servant wins six-figure sum over ‘insidious’ Ministry of Justice racism
In some other news, The Independent has revealed a former civil servant received a six-figure pay-out from the government over discrimination.
She says was subjected to “insidious” racism during a 12-year battle with the Ministry of Justice, our race correspondent Nadine White reports.
Ministry of Justice worker subjected to ‘insidious’ racism receives six-figure payout
Exclusive: Former civil servant Olivea Ebanks awarded compensation after bringing legal proceedings over racism three times in 12 years
Liz Truss condemns Russian attack on Ukrainian school
Liz Truss accused Vladimir Putin’s forces of war crimes after a Russian bomb destroyed a school in Luhansk, Ukraine, where around 90 were sheltering in the basement:
'Standing together for peace’
The leader of Sinn Fein has been at a Ukraine war protest in Ireland today. Here is what she said:
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