N Ireland faces second vote in six months as DUP boycott persists
The largest pro-British party refuses to back an assembly speaker’s election, ensuring that a deadline to form a power-sharing government is missed. Northern Ireland is facing the prospect of a second election in six months after the region’s largest pro-British party refused to drop its boycott of a power-sharing government, citing concerns about post-Brexit trade rules. At an emergency session of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Democratic Unionist Party on Thursday said it would not back the election of a speaker, effectively ensuring that a six-month deadline to form a government after elections in May is missed. ‘Won’t change anything’ Chris Heaton-Harris, the UK government’s minister for Northern Ireland, has repeatedly said that failure to form a government by the end of Thursday would leave him legally obliged to call a new election despite the fact that the region’s main parties have said a vote would do little to break the deadlock. “There is no doubt that having an election at this time won’t change anything in terms of the issues and challenges we have in Northern Ireland,” Donaldson said.
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