The British government would start “formal engagement” with Dublin about introducing a form of direct rule for Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a senior minister has told MPs. Environment secretary Michael Gove, who was standing in for Theresa May as the opening speaker in a debate about a no-deal Brexit, said the current arrangements in Northern Ireland could not withstand such an outcome. In the two years since the Stormont institutions were suspended, the British government has introduced legislation which empowers Northern Ireland civil servants to continue to take decisions which are in the public interest. When an amendment ruling out a no-deal Brexit at any time was passed by four votes, the government imposed a three-line whip ordering Conservatives to vote against its own motion. Earlier chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond warned that a no-deal Brexit would make Britain poorer and he called for a cross-party compromise on how Britain should leave the EU.

Source: The Irish Times March 13, 2019 21:18 UTC