DUP's Gordon Lyons says 'we are hearing good things on EU/UK Protocol negotiations'

However he also stressed that what unionists need is more than just “good words” when it comes to fixing the problem of the Irish Sea border.

He was speaking yesterday as the government announced it was throwing its earlier deadlines in the bin when it comes to re-forming a Stormont government.

Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, revealed that it is pushing the prospect of an Assembly election back yet again.

Having previously said that an election would be called by the end of October 2022 if Stormont’s Executive was still not functioning, and then having pushed that deadline back to January, he now said the local parties have until January 18, 2024, to form a government.

If that deadline passes, then the Government would come under a legal responsibility to hold a snap poll within the following 12 weeks.

What that means is that it could be mid-April 2023 before an election is called.

It is now just over a year since the DUP collapsed the devolved Executive in protest at the Protocol, when Paul Givan quit as First Minister.

The election which followed in May saw it lose three MLAs, and about 7% of its vote share, and made Sinn Fein into the biggest party at Stormont.

Mr Heaton-Harris said he will bring forward a new law in Westminster to extend the election deadline.

"Having spoken to political representatives, businesses and communities in Northern Ireland, I have concluded that another election at this time is not the best course of action to facilitate the restoration of the Executive," he said.

Mr Heaton-Harris went on to hold roundtable talks with the local parties on Thursday to discuss the move.

Afterwards DUP MLA Mr Lyons said: “It’s up to the Secretary of State what he does in terms of an election.

“From our point of view, we don’t fear going to the electorate, we’re quite happy to get our mandate renewed. In fact, we think we’ll improve on the election results from last time.

“But ultimately, what we want to see sorted out is the Protocol.”

He also said: “We need to have arrangements in place that can command the support of unionists, nationalists and everybody in Northern Ireland.

“And that’s what we have reiterated to the Secretary of State.

“We’re hearing lots of good things from the negotiations. But ultimately, we need more than good words.

“We need actions that deliver on what we need to see so that we can have in place a settlement and an agreement that will endure and will work for the people of Northern Ireland.”

The DUP has stressed that it has seven tests by which it will judge any Protocol outcome – the first and seventh of which hinge not on trade, but on Northern Ireland’s constitutional place.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has previously told this paper that some leaked details of a supposed deal, which claimed that an agreement which would streamline the movement of GB cargo through NI ports is drawing close, would not suffice.

"Certainly what was being talked about wouldn’t in itself meet the requirements unionists have in relation to a solution,” he had said last week.

Ian Paisley later went on to say that red-and-green lanes are one thing, but if the European Court of Justice retains any jurisdiction over Northern Ireland, “I can't see how” the DUP could rejoin a Stormont government.

On Wednesday this week, Mr Heaton-Harris had met the EU's chief negotiator on the Protocol, Maros Sefcovic, in Brussels.

"I reiterated that the UK Government is working hard to resolve the problems caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol, and the desire to see an agreed solution with the EU," said Mr Heaton-Harris on Thursday.

"I was clear that this extension does not influence Protocol discussions.”

Civil servants are currently running Northern Ireland in the absence of elected ministers, at a time when Stormont is facing a financial overspend of hundreds of millions of pounds.

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