DUP talks with government entering "crucial stage"

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he has made specific proposals to the Westminster Government about how it can address his party's concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Responding to suggestions that the Government did not know what his party was asking for, Sir Jeffrey said his concerns had been "well aired".

Speaking at Stormont, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O'Neill also said she hoped meetings of the British Irish Council and the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference over coming days would inject fresh momentum into efforts to restore Stormont.

However, she added that she could see no urgency from Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in attempts to resolve the powersharing logjam.

The DUP collapsed the Stormont Executive 18 months ago as part of its protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol and the barriers it created in trade between the region and the rest of the UK.

While the EU and the Government have since agreed the Windsor Framework in an attempt to alleviate those concerns, the DUP is holding out for further concessions before it agrees to any Stormont return.

Speaking at Stormont, Sir Jeffrey said he believed restoring the Stormont Assembly remained a priority for Downing Street, despite other domestic problems facing the Conservative Party.

Sir Jeffrey said: "From our perspective, the Government does recognise that this is a priority, our engagement with the Secretary of State and others suggests that in Downing St it remains so.

"If the Prime Minister is looking for areas to make progress and to demonstrate that his government can deliver and is capable of providing good governance across all of the United Kingdom, then a most obvious place to take steps would be to address issues around the protocol and to get this resolved so we have a fully functioning Stormont back in place."

Asked about recent comments from Mr Heaton-Harris that he was not aware what the DUP was asking for over the NI Protocol, Sir Jeffrey said: "The Government is well aware of where our concerns are in relation to the protocol and the Windsor Framework, those concerns have been well aired."

Asked if he had made a specific ask of the Government, he said "Yes, we have proposals in relation to both legislation and to the practical arrangements for the movement of goods within the United Kingdom and its internal market.

"Those are the areas we are focused on."

Michelle O'Neill said the public had heard a lot from Mr Heaton-Harris in recent days, but added "what I am not hearing from the Secretary of State is an urgency in terms of restoration of the Executive".

She said: "I know that over the next number of days there will be opportunities for the two governments to come together, both in the British Irish Council and also the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference will meet on Monday.

"What we need to hear is what is the urgency that is being brought to having a reformed Executive up and running.

"These meetings are very, very important but they are not a substitute for having a functioning Executive up and running."

Ms O'Neill added: "I don't think there is an urgency in the approach of the British Government, but I hope that is what we see as a result of the two meetings that are going to happen over the next couple of days.

"The British Irish Intergovernmental Conference on Monday, I know that the restoration of the Executive is on the agenda."