Talks between the UK government and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party over its concerns regarding the Windsor framework have entered their final stages, the Northern Ireland secretary has said. Further changes as part of the framework will come into effect on Sunday, including the green/red lane system for the movement of goods. The DUP has been blocking power sharing in Belfast for more than a year in protest against the internal UK trade barriers created by Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol. The party claims the framework deal struck by the EU and the UK to reform the protocol does not sufficiently address its concerns and says it will not return to Stormont until the government commits to legislation over Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market. Writing in the News Letter on Saturday, Chris Heaton-Harris said the government had engaged with the DUP extensively and that work was taking place to address the party’s concerns in order to restore Northern Ireland’s executive. “We are also in the final stages of a period of constructive engagement with the DUP,” he wrote. “We are pulling together a comprehensive package of proposals that we hope will address their concerns. “I have no doubt that it is their genuine desire to focus on concrete improvements and to create a situation that will enable the executive to be restored. I firmly believe that restoration of the institutions is right for Northern Ireland and right for the future of the union.”
The DUP MP Sammy Wilson said on Friday that the changes would “confirm” a border in the Irish Sea, and that his party would not return to power sharing as it would be legally required to implement the framework. The Sinn Féin vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, said patience had run out with the DUP blockade of the assembly and called on the UK and Irish governments to work together on a plan to restore the institutions. Heaton-Harris wrote: “To address concerns about divergence between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, we have to not only show that goods trade is working, we also have to show we are tackling worrying disparities on healthcare waiting lists, on childcare, on environmental pollution, on pay for our teachers, nurses and hardworking public servants, and on hundreds of smaller decisions being taken every day. “To do that we need a devolved government here. Over the coming weeks we have a chance to move forward, to move on from Brexit and get Northern Ireland moving again.”