DUP blocks Michelle O’Neill from Glasgow meeting with prime minister
The DUP says it will stop joint engagements with Northern Ireland’s first minister and will not permit her to attend alone amid the Drumcree dispute.
Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill has been blocked from attending a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Glasgow on Friday, 30 October, after the DUP decided to stop joint official engagements with her, BBC News reported. The decision prevents her from representing Northern Ireland at the planned economic gathering alongside other devolved leaders.
O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly had both been invited to the National Economic Council, according to the BBC. DUP leader Gavin Robinson confirmed that Little-Pengelly would not take part in joint engagements with O’Neill and that O’Neill would not be permitted to attend alone. Attendance at official events on behalf of their joint office requires both ministers’ assent, the Press Association reported.
Drumcree dispute behind the decision
The move comes amid unionist anger over Sinn Féin politicians’ involvement in a protest that prevented an Orange Order march from passing along Garvaghy Road in Portadown, the BBC reported. Robinson said O’Neill’s ‘arrogance will have consequences for her.’ The protest and the DUP’s response have deepened a dispute over how the first and deputy first ministers work together.
The disagreement has also put pressure on Robinson within his party. DUP MP Carla Lockhart stepped down from the party’s officer board the previous week over his approach to the dispute, according to the BBC. She later said she would follow her own course if the party did not seek O’Neill’s removal as first minister.
Glasgow meeting and Northern Ireland’s budget
The Glasgow engagements were expected to include Scottish First Minister John Swinney and Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Press Association reported. O’Neill and Little-Pengelly had also been due to discuss the absence of a Stormont budget for the current financial year in a separate meeting with Burnham. The DUP decision therefore affects discussions on an issue facing Northern Ireland’s Executive as well as attendance at the wider gathering.
O’Neill called the move ‘reckless and irresponsible’ and said people in Northern Ireland would not be represented, according to the BBC. She said she had requested a separate meeting with Burnham to raise the Executive’s urgent budget and funding challenges directly. It was not immediately clear whether that separate meeting would take place.
Alliance leader Naomi Long criticised the decision, saying it put party interests ahead of Northern Ireland’s economic future and public needs, the BBC reported. Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows said the DUP decision ‘punishes Northern Ireland, not Michelle O’Neill.’
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Sources and context
- Michelle O'Neill blocked from PM meeting in GlasgowBBC News (Brendan Hughes and Lili Busby)
- DUP blocks joint engagements with Sinn Féin First Minister amid parading disputeThe Standard; David Young, Press Association (PA Archive/PA Wire)
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.