The new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has urged Stormont party leaders to form an executive “as soon as possible”. He told MPs: “I know the House shares my view that Northern Ireland needs a stable, fully functioning devolved government to deliver on the issues that matter to people most.”Welcome to @chhcalling, the newly appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. https://t.co/ykNkXEVgbg — Northern Ireland Office (@NIOgov) September 6, 2022The DUP withdrew from the Executive earlier this year in protest over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol, a special arrangement that keeps Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods, avoiding a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. But the arrangement is deeply unpopular with unionists because it includes checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Conservative former Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers said: “The main barrier to the resumption of devolved powersharing government is of course the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Source: The Herald September 07, 2022 12:05 UTC