Joint Authority Northern Ireland: DUP, UUP and TUV welcome ‘belated’ NIO clarity after calls by Alliance Party, Sinn Fein, SDLP and Taoiseach Micheal Martin

The NIO was responding to calls for some form of joint authority, or alternative to direct rule, coming from the Alliance Party, Sinn Fein, SDLP and the Irish Taoiseach, stretching back to Thursday last week.

They were making the calls just before Stormont ministers were due to be relieved of their posts, today, due to a DUP boycott of the assembly over the NI Protocol.

At noon on Tuesday the News Letter asked the NIO if the UK government held that some form of joint rule with Dublin was feasible. At 7:10pm on Tuesday the NIO responded with a statement that did not directly answer the question, saying that it "will carefully consider what other steps may need to be taken in the absence of an Executive".

The statement stood in sharp contrast to 2017 when the UK said: “We will never countenance any arrangement, such as joint authority, inconsistent with the principle of consent in the [Good Friday/Belfast] agreement.”

The News Letter reported extensive unionist concerns over the disparity over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Then at 6pm on Thursday the NIO issued an unequivocal statement. "Joint authority is not being considered," it said. "The UK Government is absolutely clear that the consent principle governs the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. We will not countenance any arrangements that are inconsistent with that principle."

Emphasising the position later on Thursday night, NIO Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lord Caine tweeted that NI is "not some kind of hybrid state". He added: "It follows therefore that any form of so-called 'Joint Authority' over NI between London and Dublin would be fundamentally inconsistent with the 1998 Agreement and the principle of consent at its heart."

DUP MLA Gordon Lyons responded that the NIO clarifications were "a welcome, if belated, statement of reality, as well as the Government’s position".

He added: "It is disappointing however that the NIO were unable to provide this in response to the initial query. Joint authority is clearly and obviously inconsistent with the Belfast Agreement, and it is a demonstration that wider nationalism appears only to care about the agreement when it suits their political ends.”

UUP leader Doug Beattie reiterated that any attempt to impose some form of Joint Authority between London and Dublin on Northern Ireland would be "the greatest possible breach of the Belfast Agreement and UK sovereignty over Northern Ireland".

He added: “I therefore welcome the clarification – albeit belated – from the NIO which was issued at 6pm on Thursday stating ‘Joint authority is not being considered. The UK Government is absolutely clear that the consent principle governs the constitutional position of Northern Ireland.

TUV Lagan Valley spokesperson Lorna Smyth said:"What is telling in all of this is that the NIO were happy to let the nonsense role as a story for a few days before saying the obvious."

Over the past two days the News Letter asked the Irish Government, Alliance, Sinn Fein, and the SDLP what options for joint authority they saw in the Belfast Agreement and subsequent deals. None of them responded.