Leaders urged to resolve NI protocol issues

The May 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held after First Minister Paul Givan a member of the Democratic Unionist Party triggered the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive by resigning in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Sinn Féin became the largest party in the assembly. Under power-sharing arrangements set out in the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement the DUP – as the largest unionist party – was required to nominate a deputy first minister. The DUP declined to do so until ‘decisive action’ was taken to address its opposition to the protocol.

Subsequent attempts to restore the power-sharing executive were unsuccessful and the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2022 passed by the UK Parliament in December 2022 provides for the exercise of departmental functions in the continued absence of Northern Ireland ministers.

The protocol to the EU withdrawal agreement setting out special arrangements...