Windsor Framework and Stormont Brake: Alliance MLA Sorcha Eastwood 'trying to sideline unionists' with calls to reform Stormont without DUP

The DUP collapsed the Stormont Executive last year in protest at what it said was the commercial and constitutional damage the NI Protocol was inflicting on Northern Ireland.

On Wednesday the House of Commons gave a landslide vote in favour of Windsor Framework, which the Prime Minister claims will resolve unionist concerns.

However the DUP maintains that while it does make progress, it fails to address "fundamental" problems and that the party would not be going back to Stormont yet.

Lagan Valley Alliance MLA Sorcha Eastwood told Nolan Live that no one party should be able to hold Stormont to ransom.

"What we're saying is very simple," she said. "If you can't play by the rules of the game, you do not have the right to stop everybody else in Northern Ireland having an Assembly that will deliver for them. If they want to take their stand, no problem. But that doesn't mean that the rest of us should be unable to do our job.

“We can't do anything about health waiting lists. We can't do anything about special educational needs. We can't do anything about the state of our roads without an Assembly. I think the question should be how much longer can the people of Northern Ireland go without an Assembly? It needs to change and it needs to change now.”

However East Belfast DUP MLA David Brooks said her comments were an echo of early calls by Alliance for the "rigorous implementation" of the Protocol, "only this time with a software update".

He added: "They ultimately remain rooted in the same desire to sideline and ignore the position held by unionists. This is in stark contrast to the Alliance position whilst Sinn Fein prevented the formation of an Executive for three years."

"Progress is only made in Northern Ireland with support from across the community. Only that can provide the stable and sustainable foundation for devolved government here. We should be working to find solutions to the problems we face, not ways to pretend they don’t exist.”