Sinn Féin pulls out of protocol meeting after party leader ‘excluded’

Sinn Féin has pulled out of political talks in Belfast after leader Mary Lou McDonald was not allowed to attend (Brian Lawless/PA)

Sinn Féin has dramatically withdrawn from roundtable talks with British foreign secretary James Cleverly over the Northern Ireland Protocol, claiming party leader Mary Lou McDonald was excluded from attending.

The Belfast talks, which were also to include Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and focus on the Stormont powersharing crisis, will now be overshadowed by the row.