Joint Authority Northern Ireland: Good Friday Agreement negotiator warns NIO tactic is 'very dangerous'

UUP peer Lord Empey also says it has been "reckless" of the UK not to have been proactive in resolving unionist concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol for so long.

In the past week the Alliance Party, Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Irish Taoiseach have all said that some form of joint authority should follow Stormont ministers losing their seats on Friday. The crisis has resulted from a DUP boycott of Stormont in protest at the NI Protocol.

In 2017 Stormont was paralysed after the resignation of Martin McGuinness. At that time Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney ruled out “British-only direct rule” but was firmly rebuffed by the UK government. It responded: “We will never countenance any arrangement, such as joint authority, inconsistent with the principle of consent in the [Good Friday/Belfast] agreement.”

This week the News Letter asked the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) if it holds that joint rule is feasible. However this time it made no effort to reject the possibility. It said: "The Government in line with its commitments to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement will carefully consider what other steps may need to be taken in the absence of an Executive to ensure that it delivers on its responsibilities to the people of Northern Ireland."

Lord Empey said the UK has made no effort to resolve the issues in talks.

"Since the Executive collapsed in February, as far as I am aware and certainly as far as the current Secretary of State is concerned, no attempt has been made by the NIO to convene talks between the parties. No attempt has been made by the Foreign office and the NIO to convene talks.

"There have been no talks between the EU and the UK for six months until a fortnight ago and I think that is grossly irresponsible almost to the point of being reckless to have allowed this to drift when we all know roughly where the solution lies."

There are unforeseen dangers for the NIO giving the impression it is entertaining joint authority, he says.

"It is a very high risk strategy and very dangerous. I don't think the NIO has the institutional memory of where we came from over the post Troubles period. I think there is a very one dimensional approach to this and if they think the tactic of bouncing people around works in Northern Ireland - history tells us that it doesn't. What we need is negotiation,

He adds: "We know what the objective is. The question is does the current action of the NIO bring the formation of an Executive closer or not? And I don't see any evidence that their current actions are bringing us any closer.

"What I think they should be doing is what they should have been doing for the last few months - fostering negotiations - not only within Northern Ireland but involving local politicians in talks between the EU and the UK. That is the way ahead. I think what they are doing now is reckless."

At 6pm on Thursday the NIO responded to Lord Empey’s comments, saying: "Joint authority is not being considered. 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."