Foster and O’Neill at odds on Stormont veto mechanism

First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill (Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA)

Stormont’s leaders have clashed on their interpretation of a contentious voting mechanism that enabled the DUP to veto an extension of Northern Ireland’s circuit-break.

Addressing the Assembly, Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill accused her partners-in-government of abusing a mechanism she insisted was designed to protect minority rights, not thwart health regulations.