STORMONT STALEMATE RETURNS AS FIRST MINISTER RESIGNS

Here we are in 2022 and another stoppage of government here in Northern Ireland once again. First Minister Paul Givan handed in his resignation to the speaker of the assembly yesterday and was effective as of midnight last night.

It means that Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill also loses her position due to the fact that both FM and DFM hold joint office and one cannot continue without the other.

What does this mean for the future?

Under previous law this would normally automatically start a 7 day time period for a new FM and DFM to be nominated and appointed before the Secretary of State would select a date for an assembly election.

However following the 2020 New Decade, New Approach agreement that period has now been extended to be 6 weeks with an option to extend to 24 weeks and even 48 weeks.

Only then will the Secretary of State decide on a date for a possible assembly election. This in itself raises more questions as to whether there will be an early election called considering the fact that there is an Assembly Election scheduled for 5 May.

What happens with Legislation?

In terms of legislation, the assembly can continue to progress current legislation through the house until it becomes law as normal, however no new legislation can be proposed and be agreed upon.

This means that current legislation should not be affected for up to 6 weeks and will continue as planned. Despite this no executive meetings can be held due to the fact that the whole executive has to be in attendance which cannot happen due to the fact there is no FM and DFM.

Why has this occurred?

The reasons according to the DUP, to why the First Minister resigned is due to the inaction on the negotiations on the implementation of the NI protocol. Speaking on the Nolan Show this morning, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said that he would not enter a new executive if significant and fundamental change is not made to the issues surrounding the protocol.

Sir Jeffrey also failed to give a definitive answer as to whether he would enter an executive led by a Sinn Féin First Minister or not. He urged that the party will make those decisions in due course and have not made a decision on that matter as of yet.

So once again the people of Northern Ireland are without a functioning executive and don’t have leaders of the country and fail to have any chances of introducing new legislation.

So let’s just say that we will only see what will happen in due course however the most spoken about and touted way forward seems to be an early election for the Assembly and a chance to restore government with a new mandate and a will to serve the people of Northern Ireland.