Angry executive exchanges after DUP blocks move to extend circuit-break lockdown

Democratic Unionist Party MLA Edwin Poots speaks to media after a roundtable meeting at Stormont Picture: PA

Executive ministers were involved in angry exchanges after the DUP moved to block a proposal to extend Northern Ireland’s circuit-break lockdown for two more weeks.

DUP Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots’ call for the proposal to be decided using the cross-community voting mechanism – effectively handing his party a veto – provoked heated responses from other parties during a meeting on Tuesday night.