Jeffrey Donaldson to make his position on Stormont clear ‘before end of week’

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson following the State Opening of Parliament (James Manning/PA)

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said he will make his position on Stormont clear before the end of the week.

Mr Donaldson has pressed the Government for “decisive action” over the Northern Ireland Protocol before he will nominate ministers for a new Stormont Executive.

He said that “words in themselves will not fix this problem” after the Government stopped short of pledging to take action on the protocol in the Queen’s Speech.

He told reporters in London that he is committed to leading the DUP into political institutions at Stormont.

But he added: “I’m also very clear we need to resolve the issues here in terms of the protocol and I will be making my position clear on that before the end of this week.”

Asked if he would stay on as an MP or take up his mandate to be an MLA, the DUP leader said: “In the short term a choice has to be made on that. I will come to a decision with my colleagues.”

Following the historic election result at the weekend, Sinn Fein is now the largest party at Stormont and entitled to nominate the first nationalist or republican First Minister.

However the DUP must nominate a deputy First Minister to serve alongside in the joint office.

Sinn Fein’s Stormont leader, Michelle O’Neill, said she pressed Boris Johnson on the importance of a new Executive being formed.

She tweeted that she told him the DUP’s “refusal to form an Executive is punishing the public, leaving workers and families high and dry”.

“The public here can’t be a pawn in the British Government’s game of chicken with the EU,” she said.

“Time to form an Executive now.”

Mr Donaldson said that, during his call with the Mr Johnson he “reiterated our position that we cannot nominate to an Executive until decisive action is taken on the protocol”.