The UK’s Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Steve Baker, has called on the DUP to return to power sharing.
If the Stormont Executive was not back up and running by Friday then an election would have to be called. People needed to “face up” to the fact that this was a legal requirement that could only be removed by legislation, that would be “tricky” and not possible within this week.
Mr Baker told RTÉ radio’s News at One that he hoped his party’s leadership issue would be settled on Monday afternoon in the interest of political stability.
The Conservative party’s Brexit priorities had not changed, he said, everyone wanted to see a negotiated settlement.
“Nobody wants to be talking about the Protocol in six months or a year. We want to be celebrating the Good Friday Agreement, and getting on as friends," Mr Baker said.
While the “red lines” had not changed, his government was determined to “work our way through this”.
All sides need to listen very carefully, he urged. Mr Baker said he wanted talks to succeed but that negotiations needed to be conducted in private not in public.
“We all need to take stock, get to the technical talks and reach a solution.”
Mr Baker called on the DUP to return to power sharing.
When asked if he wanted to stay in the position of Minister of State for Northern Ireland, he said yes, that he and Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris wanted to benefit from the seeds they had sown.
