DUP revolt over first minister confirmation

Paul Givan and Michelle O'Neill have been confirmed as Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers amid an internal Democratic Unionist Party revolt.

It comes after a deal was done ending a stalemate over Irish language laws, with the UK government to legislate if Stormont does not.

The assembly nominations took place amid opposition from DUP MLAs and MPs.

A meeting of party officers took place at the DUP headquarters.

Those attending include deputy leader Paula Bradley, Lord Morrow, Diane Dodds, Gregory Campbell, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Sammy Wilson, Education Minister Michelle McIlveen, William Humphrey, Tom Buchanan and Peter Weir.

Leader Edwin Poots left the meeting in east Belfast shortly after 20:00 BST, but declined to answer questions from the media.

BBC News NI understands the vast majority of DUP assembly members (MLAs) - 24 to four - voted against Mr Poots nominating Mr Givan as first minister, during a meeting ahead of the special assembly sitting.

Sammy Wilson later said the feeling of the party was "very, very clear".

"What has been done today... shouldn't have been done and the vast majority of people believe that is the case," said the East Antrim MP.

Asked if he had confidence in Mr Poots, Mr Wilson said any leader should "bring people along with them" and that could not be achieved by "ignoring the views of a huge number of people".

"A leader who acts without the support of even a marginal majority of his party has to live with the consequences of that," he said.

Asked on his way into the meeting if there will be a vote of no confidence in Mr Poots, Mr Wilson said: "Wait and see."

"I think Edwin has got to ask does he have any confidence in the party now? If he decides to ignore the views of the party, maybe he doesn't have any confidence in us," he added.

The first and deputy first minister nominations followed a late-night deal after talks involving Sinn Féin, the DUP and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis ended a stalemate over Irish language laws, with Mr Lewis declaring legislation would be brought in by Westminster in October if not first introduced at Stormont.

But DUP MPs and peers wrote to Mr Poots expressing their concern at the deal, asking him to meet them "to explain the basis of your agreement with the secretary of state and Sinn Féin before any further steps are taken in this process, including the nomination of a first minister".

Signatories included Sir Jeffrey and Mr Wilson, as well as MPs Gregory Campbell, Jim Shannon, Gavin Robinson, Paul Girvan, and Carla Lockhart, along with Lord Morrow, Lord Browne, Lord Hea, Lord McCrea and Lord Dodds.

Some DUP MPs also joined the MLA meeting to vote on Mr Givan's nomination, but Mr Poots and Mr Givan left before the vote was taken, walking past Mr Wilson while he was speaking, BBC News NI understands.

Mr Wilson said the feeling of party members at the meeting about whether to nominate a first minister was "very clear".

"It wasn't a marginal vote. It was a clear vote," Mr Wilson told the BBC's Talkback programme.

Just over a month since he was elected leader of the DUP, Edwin Poots has entered party headquarters tonight looking very sullen as those crisis talks got under way.

There is real anger across all levels of the party over what has unfolded in the last 24 hours.

It would be wrong to assume this anger isn't going to lead to a vote of no confidence in Mr Poots at the meeting of party officers, currently taking place.

If there is a vote of no confidence and Mr Poots loses it, that doesn't necessarily mean he is out as party leader.

It will be over to the 130-strong party executive to decide what happens, and that's scheduled to meet again next Thursday.

That has MLAs, MPs, peers and members of the constituency associations all coming together.

While a special sitting of the assembly took place at 12:00 BST to nominate the first and deputy first ministers, former first minister Arlene Foster tweeted to say she hoped everyone was enjoying their day.

Officially nominating Mr Givan, Mr Poots said the assembly needed more people like him to win for unionism.

Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said the new executive would face many challenges but that Ms O'Neill was a strong and dedicated leader.

Accepting the nomination, Mr Givan said Mr Poots was a leader "who had a big heart for the people around him".

Ms O'Neill said the new executive's top priority was its response to the Covid crisis, the continued successful rollout of Northern Ireland's vaccination programme, and rebuilding the economy.

When Arlene Foster stood down as first minister on Monday, Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill also lost her position as deputy first minister because the roles are a joint office.

They then had seven days to nominate replacements.

Mr Poots had named Mr Givan as its pick to replace Mrs Foster, while Sinn Féin said Ms O'Neill would resume her post as deputy first minister.

But Sinn Féin had wanted commitments from the DUP over a timetable for implementing Irish language legislation, as set out in the New Decade, New Approach deal that restored power sharing in January 2020.

The party said this was not forthcoming, and it called on Mr Lewis to bring in Irish language legislation via Westminster.

Mr Poots has said he was committed to implementing all of the NDNA commitments, including those around Irish language, but not necessarily before the end of the current assembly mandate in May 2022.

When a deal was reached in the early hours of Thursday, Mr Lewis said he was "disappointed" the Stormont executive had not brought Irish language legislation forward in the assembly.

"However, following my intensive negotiations with the parties over the last few days, I can confirm that if the executive has not progressed legislation by the end of September, the UK government will take the legislation through Parliament in Westminster," he said.

"If that becomes necessary, we will introduce legislation in October 2021."

Mr Lewis said later on Thursday that Mr Poots was aware that he was agreeing to the possibility that Westminster would step in and legislate on Irish language commitments.

"Edwin Poots was very clear that he would be nominating a first minister understanding that we will be legislating in October for a package, a balanced package, exactly as per NDNA, which both parties signed up to," he said.

"Mr Poots was very clear that should be delivered at Stormont. I agree with that. That's why I've given that space to allow the executive to look at delivering that here through the executive."

Mr Poots said his party had not been "shirking away" from NDNA, and said there was "a lot in the cultural package for unionism".

He said the pandemic was the reason Irish language legislation had not been implemented.

"If anybody thought that it should have been prioritised ahead of that - that would have been very foolish," he told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster on Thursday.

"In terms of actually dealing with all of the issues contained within [New Decade New Approach], quite a number of those have not been implemented as a result of Covid-19."

Ms McDonald said Irish speakers had been waiting for 15 years for basic rights and recognition, which was important for wider society because power-sharing was "based on inclusion, respect and equality".

"On this basis of what has been agreed I am happy to confirm that Sinn Féin will nominate Michelle O'Neill as deputy first minister and will participate fully in the five-party executive," she said.

"We have a huge amount of work ahead of us as we come out of Covid and as we continue to rebuild the economy, get people back to work and tackle hospital waiting lists."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood welcomed the commitment to legislate for the cultural package, but said he was disappointed that reportedly intensive negotiations had resulted in no progress on funding hospital waiting lists, addressing the challenges of the Northern Ireland protocol or investing in the economy.

"If we're serious about transforming this place, we need to get real about addressing those challenges," he said.

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie told the assembly that he did not want to see "ransom politics" holding politicians to account.

"What I want to see is collaborative politics, where we all see the problem in front of us, where we all work to try and find a solution," Mr Beattie said.

Alliance Party leader and Justice Minister Naomi Long said she was "disappointed" as parties signed up to NDNA on the understanding it would be fulfilled.

"It seems like a very immature type of politics that we have to rely on him [Brandon Lewis] to do that [legislate for Irish language] because we can't stand over the decisions that we make," said Ms Long.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said the day's events marked the "first big humiliation and failure of Edwin Poots' leadership".

"This is the portent of things to come as once more Sinn Féin rule prevails, with the DUP the onlooking bridesmaid," he said.

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said the stability of Northern Ireland's executive was critical for peace and security in Northern Ireland.

Last week, the NI Executive outlined a number of indicative dates, including relaxing the ban on live music.

The executive met on Thursday afternoon, but ministers delayed easing further restrictions to an indicative date of 5 July, with another review due to take place on 1 July.