Any form of joint authority would be ‘fatal blow’ to Good Friday Agreement, say unionists after poll results

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said his party is “totally opposed” to joint authority, a prospect he believes “wouldn’t work”, while the the former DUP First Minister Paul Givan stressed that the Republic of Ireland has no “legal basis for the governing of Ireland”.

The two men were speaking after a poll by the firm Lucid Talk, carried out for the Belfast Telegraph, found that 41% of people would support Dublin and London sharing responsibility for the governing of Northern Ireland if the power-sharing impasse at Stormont continues.

A similar figure, 40%, said they would prefer direct rule with no input from Dublin in those circumstances.

A total of 18% of people said they would back some form of consultative role for Dublin in a direct rule scenario.

The two main unionist parties said the focus should be on finding solutions to the Protocol in order to secure the return of powersharing government at Stormont, rather than exploring alternative arrangements.

Mr Beattie, in a statement, said: “Let`s focus on the here and now rather than looking at the demise of the Belfast Agreement.

“The Ulster Unionist Party is totally opposed to joint authority. It is not acceptable and wouldn’t work. It would be a fatal blow to the Belfast Agreement and would destroy the foundations on which it was built and had gained so much support.

“Instead the Ulster Unionist Party remains totally focused on restoring the devolved institutions so that local people have a voice in how they are governed.”

He continued: "The Northern Ireland Protocol is the fundamental problem that needs to be overcome. Had the Ulster Unionist Party been listened to in 2019 and more recently March of this year we would not be in this position. Local politicians need to provide stable government as we head into a potential winter of discontent with strikes on the horizon and a cost of living crisis biting into household incomes and budgets."

Mr Givan, meanwhile, said: “A poll where a vague question about ‘consultative role’ is asked, ignores the reality that the Republic of Ireland has no legal basis for the governing of Northern Ireland. Indeed, it would also be a breach of the Belfast and successor agreements.”He continued: “Most people want to see the restoration of devolution. It is the Protocol alone that is stopping the formation of an Executive immediately. The warning that devolution and the Protocol could not co-exist was sounded 14 months ago by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, long before the last Assembly election.

"The Protocol is harming Northern Ireland, and this is when we are not yet feeling its full effects. The ongoing grace periods being challenged by the EU and UK Government support have insulated us from those most devastating consequences. However, even this insulation comes at a cost with the Trader Support Service costing £365,000 per day to administer – that is £15,000 per hour. The cost of operating this scheme for a single day should be judged against the number of nurses salaries it could pay for a year.”