Is the possibility of pacts a bridge too far for NI politicans?
Talk of alliances seems to going nowhere
Last updated 26th Apr 2017
The latest buzzword at Stormont is ‘pact’ but is coalition possible? POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, Jordan Moates reports
To pact or not to pact?
That is the question Northern Ireland’s political leaders have been asking themselves.
For this Anti-Brexit alliance it seems like the issue is going in the same direction as the talks at Stormont....the road to nowhere.
However, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood says there could be another option.
“I have made the proposal to others that we would still be up for the idea in certain constituencies of independent candidates who wanted to fight Brexiteer MPs that we would be prepared to look at that as an option,” he said
On the other hand, negotiations for a Unionist Pact are not exactly going well either.
Meetings have taken place between the Ulster Unionists and DUP with conflicting reports on progress.
Either way the ground-work has been laid for a wider pact with uniliateral decisions in Fermanagh and South Tyrone along with North Belfast.
But if the results of the last two general elections are anything to go by South Belfast would be a win for an agreed unionist candidate, so that is where all eyes will be focused.
Unionists still have time to get a deal nominations do not close for another few weeks.