Jeffrey Donaldson in push to get Stormont restoration deal over line with DUP

The party leader is believed to be confident that he can secure support within the ruling body of his party for a return to power-sharing.

The News Letter understands that he will be consulting with unionist and loyalist groups about a restoration of Stormont, amid the ongoing divisions among his colleagues.

The party officers, who are the most powerful members of the DUP, met yesterday at an undisclosed location, where they are believed to have been divided as to the way forward.

This newspaper has tried to speak to various party officers but was met with almost total silence. There has been speculation about a range of views within the meeting, from a 6-6 split on restoring Stormont, or perhaps even a narrow majority against of 7-5. Other claims are of a 7-5 divide in favour or even hopes that Sir Jeffrey can get a majority of 8-4.

The party says it will continue to engage with the government, and Sir Jeffrey is expected to make what he thinks could be a decisive push to get his deal over the line.

No formal vote was taken by party officers yesterday – in a meeting which had been expected by some to be a ‘deal or no deal’ moment for the party.

In a statement yesterday evening, a DUP spokesperson said: “We understand that there has been considerable interest in our meeting today. We will not give a running commentary on our position, save to say, we will continue to engage with the government.”

Yesterday’s meeting came amid mounting speculation that the DUP is preparing to make a final call on whether or not to accept a government deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Downing Street expressed hope the Stormont impasse could soon be resolved while Irish premier Leo Varadkar described the meeting as a “positive sign”.

The devolved institutions at Stormont have been collapsed for almost two years since the DUP walked out in protest at the Irish Sea border.

Senior civil servants are running devolved departments, with limited powers, in the absence of local ministers.

Public sector pay issues remain unresolved, but unions have so far focused much of their anger at the secretary of state for refusing to release the money for pay rises until an Executive is in place to make the decisions.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said before Christmas that his negotiations with the DUP over the terms of the Windsor Framework had concluded.

Although the party has been holding out since then for more clarification on the government’s proposals, it appears to be approaching the point where a decision to reject or accept the deal must be made.

One senior DUP source said: “It is clear that the time for a decision has arrived. The negotiation is over.”

Any proposed return to Stormont would be strongly opposed by some of the DUP’s 12 party officers who have made clear that devolution should only be restored when all of their concerns over the Irish Sea trading border have been addressed.

The officer board includes senior figures such as party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, deputy leader Gavin Robinson, senior peer Lord Dodds, MPs Sammy Wilson and Gregory Campbell and MLAs including Emma Little-Pengelly, Gordon Lyons, Diane Forsythe and Michelle McIlveen.

Mrs Little-Pengelly is widely believed to be in line to take up the role of deputy first minister and Gordon Lyons appears likely to take another ministerial role in any new executive.

Expectations had been raised before Christmas that the DUP could be poised to return to power-sharing, but it did not materialise.

The government has offered a £3.3 billion package to stabilise Northern Ireland’s finances, including £600 million to settle public sector pay claims in Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, as tens of thousands of public sector workers took strike action in support of their pay claims, a legislative deadline passed for the restoration of the Stormont Assembly.

As a result, any imminent return of the assembly would first require new legislation to be tabled at Westminster.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said she would not speculate on political party meetings.

“Our focus has always been on delivering for the people of Northern Ireland who rightly expect locally elected decision-makers to address the issues that matter to them,” she added.

“We also think we have a strong basis for the restoration of power-sharing, so we hope this can be fixed soon.”

Amid warnings earlier this week that the assembly may not return for some time, former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith said on social media: “Sometimes it’s darkest before the dawn.”

Taoiseach Mr Varadkar said yesterday’s meeting was a “positive sign”.

He added: “We’ll be very keen to see the assembly and executive up and running again and certainly our role, as the Irish government, will be to do everything we can to make sure that it is sustainable, that it is successful.

“There are very serious issues that have to be dealt with in Northern Ireland, from public sector pay to the health service, to other issues.

“If it is the case that the executive and the assembly can be re-established, we want to make sure that it’s sustainable and successful and we’re willing to work with the British government and all the major parties in the north on exactly that.”

However, he said he was not aware of any changes to the Windsor Framework, and that any changes would have to be made by the EU and the UK.

The EU has repeatedly ruled out a renegotiation of the deal, and has told the News Letter that it is not involved in – but is aware of – the current political discussions between the DUP and the government, which they consider an internal matter.

l See pages 4, 10 and 11