SDLP's McDonnell urges govts to lift assembly suspension

The British and Irish governments should challenge republicans and unionists in Northern Ireland to advance politics by lifting the suspension of the Stormont Assembly, ministers were urged tonight.

As US President George W Bush’s special envoy Ambassador Mitchell Reiss prepares for a round of talks tomorrow with the North's leaders, nationalist SDLP deputy leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell insisted London and Dublin had to stick by the Good Friday Agreement in the coming months.

The South Belfast MP said: “Last December’s deal between Sinn Féin and the DUP wasn’t just failed; it was flawed.

“It weakened the protections of the Good Friday Agreement. It threatened democrats with a new form of automatic exclusion to be laid down in British legislation.

“It allowed the DUP to take too much and give too little. They didn’t have to agree to even a single North-South body or area of co-operation. It was a bad deal for nationalists and all pro-Agreement people.

“We made clear our opposition to it and urged the Governments to stand by what the Irish people voted for in 1998 – the Good Friday Agreement.

“The way to do that is to restore the institutions immediately and challenge the other parties to move forward.”