James Cleverly’s first round-table talks with Northern Ireland party leaders over Brexit were left in disarray after both Sinn Féin and the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour party refused to attend. Sinn Féin accused the UK government of “Tory petulance” claiming its leader Mary Lou McDonald, who had travelled up from Dublin for the meeting, had been “excluded” from the talks. The foreign secretary denied any snub saying the party’s deputy leader Michelle O’Neill and head of the party in Northern Ireland had been invited and “chose not to come”. He is due to meet the European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, for an official “stock take” on Monday as expectations of a breakthrough over the protocol rise. Before Christmas leaders in both the UK and the EU were hoping to get the “contours” of a deal in place by 19 January when fresh elections for the Stormont assembly were due to be called. Chris Heaton-Harris is now expected to delay calling for fresh elections to allow more time for Brexit talks. Cleverly’s meeting in Belfast went ahead with unionist DUP and UUP and the cross-community Alliance party present. Heaton-Harris said: “In conversations with NI political leaders today, I stressed that while an agreement on the protocol is incredibly important, it remains my view that the devolved institutions must return as soon as possible. “This is particularly crucial in the face of current budgetary challenges and economic pressures. The people of Northern Ireland are best when governed by their locally elected representatives, who should deliver public services at the level the public need and deserve.” McDonald spoke to the media in Belfast while the talks were taking place nearby in the city. “There is no room for bad faith and petulance from the British government,” she said. “We had hoped to make progress on those issues at today’s leaders’ meeting. “I travelled for that meeting because I believe it is an important meeting and bizarrely, and in an unprecedented way, the British Government choose to seek to exclude the leader of Sinn Féin from a leaders’ meeting.”
Cleverly was in Belfast to meet party and business leaders and build on the momentum recently injected into talks between the EU and the UK to resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol. He described the meetings he had as useful and welcomed the opportunity to hear about the impact on the ground of the protocol. He said: “I am listening to the concerns of people and businesses in Northern Ireland and am keenly aware that the current situation isn’t working. “We need to address those issues with the protocol that risk and undermine the place of NI in the UK.” Manufacturing Northern Ireland described its meeting with Cleverly as “very helpful”.