Michelle O’Neill refuses to greet Boris Johnson during Northern Ireland visit after PM decides not to meet with Sinn Fein

Ms O’Neill refused to welcome the Prime Minister to Belfast on Friday in her Stormont role after a request for a meeting with her and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald was not accepted.

After he declined the political meeting, requested amid growing tensions over post-Brexit restrictions, Ms O’Neill, Sinn Fein’s deputy leader, refused to meet him at all.

Mr Johnson was however to hold a meeting with First Minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster during a visit tied to the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He also joined Mrs Foster at a vaccine centre in Lakeland Forum in Enniskillen, which is in her Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency.

Ms O’Neill said: “Mary Lou McDonald and myself have a long-standing request to meet with the British Prime Minister to discuss a number of commitments which he and his Government have reneged on in the New Decade New Approach over this past year, and also his reckless and partisan approach to the Irish Protocol. He did not facilitate the meeting.

“I have no plans to meet with him today.”

Sinn Fein MP John Finucane said the party was refusing to engage with the “day out for unionism” after No 10 refused the request for a “professional, grown up engagement”, to cover topics including the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Finucane, who represents North Belfast, said: “We’re not in the business of engaging in a fairly superficial PR stunt, which is what the British Prime Minister invited us to do today.

“We have made the request to meet with him. I think it’s insulting to the 770,000 people on this island who vote for us that he feels it appropriate to ignore and refuse that meeting.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Michelle O’Neill was invited to join the PM on the visit.”

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