The UK’s Northern Ireland minister has insisted there will be no change to policy regarding post-Brexit trading arrangements despite the change of prime minister.
Regional elections will be called on Friday, Steve Baker added, unless the Democratic Unionist party could “choke down” its refusal to return to the power-sharing executive by then.
Speaking at a British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly event in Ireland, Baker said “whichever prime minister the UK returns will continue our policy of reaching an agreement acceptable to all sides”.
Rishi Sunak, who is frontrunner to become UK prime minister, said during the summer Conservative party leadership campaign that he wanted a negotiated settlement with the EU. He however remained committed to a bill before the House of Lords that would give London powers to scrap key parts of the protocol.
It was not clear whether Baker, who has put his support behind Sunak, or secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris, who on Monday switched to Sunak after initially backing a return of Boris Johnson, would keep their jobs.
The Democratic Unionist Party has refused to re-enter the Stormont executive and assembly until it sees sweeping changes to the protocol.
But unless the executive is restored by one minute past midnight on October 28, the UK has a legal obligation to call a fresh election in Northern Ireland.
Heaton-Harris has said he sees no room to table emergency legislation to change that.
Baker called on the DUP to “just find it within themselves to choke down the position they’ve taken — just get into the executive, do it this week and we can avoid an election” and insisted “the next prime minister will maintain the UK’s policy on the protocol”.
But DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson appeared unmoved.
“When a new prime minister is in place, if they want to see a fully functioning Stormont, they will have to deal with the protocol once and for all. Short-term fixes will be a disservice to Northern Ireland,” he said in a message to party members at the weekend.
