Two newly suspected outbreaks of Delta variant detected in Northern Ireland

Dear reader

Just weeks after Arlene Foster was ousted as DUP leader in dramatic fashion, her successor Edwin Poots has been enduring by far the toughest day yet of his short leadership.

Most people woke up to the news that Sinn Fein had decided to nominate Michelle O’Neill as deputy first minister following late night talks with Secretary of State Brandon Lewis.

However, the nature of that deal, with Mr Lewis pledging to use Westminster to force through Irish language laws by the autumn, put paid to claims that a political crisis had been averted.

While Sinn Fein’s participation in the Executive was now back on course thanks to the government once again using Westminster to override Stormont, it left the DUP and Mr Poots with a dilemma.

It emerged in mid-morning that MPs and peers had written to Mr Poots, urging him not to nominate Paul Givan, his fellow Lagan Valley MLA, as first minister.

And subsequent to that it was confirmed that a majority of the party’s MLAs and MPs voted against Mr Poots’s move to nominate Mr Givan.

Mr Givan and Ms O’Neill were eventually nominated and the new Executive has been sitting remotely this afternoon for the first time.

However, you get the sense that this crisis is far from over, especially for Mr Poots.

And as for Arlene Foster? Mr Poots’s predecessor tweeted (probably not by coincidence) that she was enjoying a lunch out in Belfast with friends.

Alistair Bushe

Editor

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