Jeffrey Donaldson

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson leaves Newry Crown Court in February 2025 after an earlier hearing in ongoing proceedings against him. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Donaldson sex offences trial delayed as wife "unfit to stand trial"

New DUP deputy leader Michelle McIlveen MLA, pictured at last year's DUP conference. (Pic: UFU)

Michelle McIlveen elected DUP deputy leader

Secretary of State Hilary Benn has hailed the first anniversary of the deal which ended the unionist boycott of Stormont - The Safeguarding The Union agreement.

Benn hails Safeguarding deal anniversary, despite implementation doubts

Lady Eleanor Donaldson (right) leaving Newry Court after a hearing in September

Bid to dismiss charges against Eleanor Donaldson delayed again

TUV leader Jim Allister MP.

Government's decision 'should break Stormont' - Jim Allister

Protestors outside the DUP meeting at the Larchfield Estate in January last year where the party voted to return to Stormont. Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Owen Polley: Whether or not unionism is united, it still needs to do better

Morning View

Editorial: Unionism is more united on its key challenge than a year ago

DUP Leader Jeffrey Donaldson, TUV Leader Jim Allister and Baroness Kate Hoey with Ben Habib and Loyalist spokesperson Jamie Bryson, during an anti-Northern Ireland Protocol rally in Bangor, County Down in April 2022. 2021 and 2022 saw almost unprecedented unionist unity - centred around the fundamental principles set out in the Ulster Day 2021 declaration

Letter: Power sharing is based on falsehoods

From left: the Revd Dr John Alderdice, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland; Archbishops Eamon Martin and John McDowell, Catholic and Church of Ireland Primates of All Ireland; the Rt Revd Sarah Groves, President of the Irish Council of Churches; and the Rt Revd Dr Richard Murray, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

TUV attacks 'spin' from church leaders welcoming devolved government

TUV leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister

Allister asks DUP if it is ready to collapse Northern Ireland's government again

Lady Eleanor Donaldson

Eleanor Donaldson’s bid to have two charges withdrawn ‘should not delay trial’

DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly.

Little Pengelly: opponents 'misrepresented' what the DUP said about its deal

All MLAs should be affronted by the motion being put to Stormont. In essence, they are being asked to give up their obligation and that of Parliament’s to represent the people of Northern Ireland, in favour of the EU, writes Ben Habib

Ben Habib: Unionist MLAs should boycott upcoming sham protocol vote

TUV MP Jim Allister has questioned the attorney general over an upcoming Stormont vote.

Allister tests key pledge in Safeguarding the Union deal ahead of Stormont vote

The DUP promoted the idea that the Safeguarding the Union document fixed the Windsor Framework and the protocol, writes Doug Beattie

Letter: DUP must take ownership now secrets are spilling out

DUP representatives met Sinn Fein before the 2007 deal between the two parties, during the period the party was led by the late Rev Ian Paisley

DUP-SF talks took place long before 2007 deal, despite years of denials
The DUP have been accused of lying to the electorate about secret talks with Sinn Fein in the mid-2000s, before the two parties signed a deal to enter government together.
David Thompson

Lady Eleanor Donaldson leaving an earlier arraignment hearing at Newry Court in September

Eleanor Donaldson’s bid to have two charges withdrawn to be heard in December

Enjoying each others company on The Lions Roar

New DUP tell-all podcast gives insight into family life of leader Gavin Robinson

Nigel Farage is quiet about the Union, the Irish Sea border and its cause, the Northern Ireland Protocol

Ben Habib: Reform should renew vows to the TUV and get squarely behind NI

Sorcha Eastwood

Sorcha Eastwood rules herself out of running for Alliance deputy leader role

DUP leader Gavin Robinson, pictured during the party's annual conference at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Belfast on Saturday, today said the DUP will not collapse Stormont powersharing under his leadership

DUP will not collapse powersharing under my leadership, vows Robinson

Morning View

Editorial: The DUP must indeed keep its eye on the Irish Sea border

Lord Dodds has praised leader Gavin Robinson's approach to the Northern Ireland protocol.

Lord Dodds: Nationalists are denying themselves a say

Soon after taking over the post, Gavin Robinson announced the party's pledge to seek an end to EU law and the sea border it creates. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Irish Sea border issues mount as DUP delegates meet

DUP leader Gavin Robinson will promise 'internal and external' change in his conference speech. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Robinson: DUP will change 'internally and externally'

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Stormont Caste recently. Already the government has shown spectacular naivete towards an Irish government that has sued the UK on legacy. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Ben Lowry: It is too early to say if Labour will be positively bad for unionists

Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson leaving Newry Magistrates' Court, after a preliminary enquiry in July, where he is charged with several historical sexual offences. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Jeffrey Donaldson is due back in Newry Crown Court today
Jeffrey Donaldson and his wife are due to be back in court today to face the latest hearing in the historic sex offence cases against them.
Adam Kula

Ian Paisley with Jim Allister who the BBC claimed had stolen the North Antrim seat.

BBC apology over Jim Allister 'stolen' seat claim

Michelle Guy - Alliance. Michelle Guy X account

Alliance Castlereagh councillor co-opted to replace Sorcha Eastwood in Assembly

Richard Tice of Reform UK and TUV leader Jim Allister with Ben Habib and TUV councillor Ron McDowell back in March when the alliance between the TUV and Reform was announced

Ben Habib: For first time in years there is cause for optimism about the Union

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Doug Beattie claims the DUP lost Lagan Valley through “sheer arrogance and a sense of entitlement”. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

Beattie slams ‘arrogance and entitlement’ of DUP

The first past the post electoral system has led to a totally distorted UK-wide election outcome. It could begin to hurt unionists. Photo: Jacob King/PA Wire

Ben Lowry: Ten less noticed aspects of the NI general election outcome

Morning View

Editorial: Many unionist voters wanted to give the DUP a kicking

TUV leader Jim Allister celebrates his election in North Antrim at Meadowbank Sports Arena, Magherafelt. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

How NI parties fared on an election night of drama and contrasting fortunes

Ian Paisley loses his seat in North Antrim at Meadowbank Sports Arena, Magherafelt. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Night of shocks for DUP as Ian Paisley loses family hold on North Antrim

Jim Allister of the TUV is elected in the North Antrim Constituency at Meadowbank Sports Arena, Magherafelt. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

TUV leader Jim Allister hails 'seismic political earthquake'

Sorcha Eastwood speaking after taking the Lagan Valley Westminster seat

Sorcha Eastwood takes Lagan Valley for Alliance - ahead of DUP's Buckley

Sorcha Eastwood, Alliance Party candidate for the Lagan Valley constituency, arriving at the South Lake Leisure Centre in Craigavon, Co Armagh. Photo: Oliver McVeigh/PA Wire

Alliance's Sorcha Eastwood wins Lagan Valley

UUP candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Diana Armstrong pictured at the Meadowbank count centre. Picture: Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

Several counts in Northern Ireland look to be on a knife edge

Lagan Valley count GE2024

UUP vote up, but neck and neck between DUP and Alliance for Lagan Valley seat

A member of the polling station team at the Agape Centre in south Belfast hangs a sign ahead of polling stations opening in the 2024 General Election

Voting in the General Election is entering its final hours in Northern Ireland

Alliance leader Naomi Long, her husband Michael and their dog Daisy, leave after casting their votes in the 2024 General Election at St Colmcille's Church in east Belfast.

Political leaders cast their ballots as voting continues in Northern Ireland

A member of the polling station team at the Agape Centre in south Belfast hangs a sign ahead of polling stations opening in the 2024 General Election. Picture date: Thursday July 4, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Election Ulster. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Voting is under way in Northern Ireland in the General Election

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer making a speech during a visit to Redditch, Worcestershire, while on the General Election campaign trail on Wednesday. Sir Keir is hoping for a landslide victory in today’s general election

Ruth Dudley Edwards: I’m a politics junkie, but I might soon need rehab

Alliance leader Naomi Long and DUP Leader Gavin Robinson who are both contesting the parliamentary seat of East Belfast in the 2024 General Election.

NI parties set for several tight tussles across a number of key constituencies

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is facing a further seven sex offence charges

Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to face more sexual offence charges

Peter Robinson made an intervention earlier this year, released on DUP social media channels, defending what he said was the "very substantial improvement" of the Safeguarding the Union deal.

TUV slams Peter Robinson's 'spoilers' criticism

DUP leader Gavin Robinson out on the campaign trail in East Belfast with a party canvasser Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Robinson and Long battle for East Belfast bitter, but not personal

The UK and the EU would agree to police each other’s regulations. It’s a great pity that the party did not make this choice earlier and instead championed the Safeguarding the Union deal

Owen Polley: It's welcome that DUP backs mutual enforcement, but too late

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said unionists could not be complacent about the maintenance of the Union

Support for Irish unity not advanced one step in 25 years, says DUP leader

Morning View

Editorial: DUP did not say in February that NI's place in UK had been undermined

In February, then DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the Safeguarding the Union deal 'takes away the border within the UK'. Today in the assembly, DUP MLA Deborah Erskine slammed the current arrangements – and appeared to set out mutual enforcement arrangements as the party’s formal policy alternative

Irish Sea border: DUP slams trade arrangements it backed in February

Stephen Farry, once regarded as a business friendly minister, now, for many unionists, represents everything that has gone wrong with the modern Alliance Party. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Owen Polley: The debate in unionism shouldn't come down to vote-splitting claims

Jonathan Buckley, DUP Westminster candidate for the constituency of Lagan Valley in Northern Ireland in the village of Royal Hillsborough

DUP hoping to hold off Alliance in Lagan Valley as new MP to be elected

Gavin Robinson was speaking to the BBC's Talkback programme. Photo: BBC News NI

DUP won’t pull the plug on Stormont again

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