Some in crowd blocking Garvaghy Road shout ‘bring Stormont down’

Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill has said the reignition of the Drumcree dispute “brings into question how this whole peace process works”.

Some in the crowd blocking the Garvaghy Road on Sunday morning could be heard shouting “bring Stormont down”.

Asked on if she thought Stormont could collapse over the Drumcree dispute, the First Minister said: “I think that this brings into question how this whole peace process works.

“The progress of the last 28 years have been brought into question by the actions of the Orange Order and those within political unionism that want to drag us backwards, and I think that brings into question – you heard it here today.

“You heard it about the people’s view of Stormont. You heard it about the terms of politics working for them, and you hear it here time and time again and we’ve certainly heard it over the last 24 hours.

“What’s the point? What’s the point whenever people are going to railroad over their rights? Whenever they’re going to try to roll back in 28 years of progress?

“But I can tell you what we’re about. We’re about the future. We’re about building on our peace and progress. We’re about not allowing people to bring us back.”

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/michelle-oneill-says-drumcree-dispute-brings-into-question-how-this-whole-peace-process-works-ZTXEZ4VBHBC2PBVV2OQHYXR6CM/

Reform’s Thomas Kerr also visited community centre closely linked to leading east Belfast loyalist

DUP leader Gavin Robinson was “delighted” to welcome a Reform UK delegation to Northern Ireland during a visit that included a tour of Stormont and a meeting at a community centre closely linked to a leading loyalist.

The party’s deputy leader in Scotland, part of the delegation, said following the two day visit he wanted to strengthen ties with the north.

Thomas Kerr and the team went on a tour of Stormont, visited Glentoran Football Club and spent time meeting local organisations in Belfast to discuss “working together for the future”.

Mr Kerr, an MSP from Glasgow, also visited the Hanwood Community Resource Centre in east Belfast, a long-established sports-based facility in Tullycarnet.

Among the organisation’s trustees is leading loyalist Jimmy Birch, formerly linked with the UDA.

“It’s great to be over in Belfast strengthening ties in Northern Ireland,” Mr Kerr posted on social media as he thanked Mr Robinson “for taking the time to show me and my team around Stormont and East Belfast”.

He described how during the visit he spent time with “local organisations in Belfast to discuss working together for the future”.

Mr Kerr, formerly the leader of Scottish Conservatives on Glasgow City Council, defected from the party last year. He was not directly elected to the Scottish Parliament but secured his seat via a regional list.

The DUP leader said he and party colleagues work with Reform at Westminster “on areas where we share common purpose, including working to strengthen our United Kingdom and all its constituent parts”.

“This interest extends to their members in other legislatures also and I was delighted therefore to welcome Reform’s deputy leader in Scotland,” Mr Robinson said.

“The visit allowed him to learn more about the devolved administration in Northern Ireland, but also see some of the fantastic community facilities we are proud of within East Belfast.”

The Scottish politician also visited Belfast City Hall, where he was given a tour by DUP Alderman Dean McCullough.

Alderman McCullough said it was “a pleasure to meet” with Mr Kerr, who was part of a delegation that travelled to Belfast.

“The historic and enduring bonds between Northern Ireland and Scotland run deep, built over generations through shared history, culture, friendship and family ties,” Mr McCullough wrote on social media.

“Those who believe in the United Kingdom and in common sense politics ought to work together in the interests of all our people.”

Earlier this year, the DUP leader hosted Reform MP Robert Jenrick. The pair went on a tour of the Shankill Road.

In 2024, TUV leader Jim Allister and Reform’s Richard Tice announced an electoral partnership ahead of the general election.

But this was followed by leader Nigel Farage publicly declaring his support for two DUP candidates, Sammy Wilson and Ian Paisley. Mr Allister defeating Mr Paisley in North Antrim.

The Hanwood Trust was contacted for comment as was Mr Kerr.

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/dup-leader-delighted-to-welcome-reform-uk-scotland-delegation-strengthening-ties-with-northern-ireland-F62WRIJ2LREQXMT2SXSV3SLPOQ/

The biggest nonsense of all is that the Executive can ever deliver good, collectively agreed governance

THERE are a few nonsenses about the Assembly which need to be dismissed and then dumped for ever.

The first is that there is some sort of magic formula, involving the jigging-about of the rules and regulations, which would allow the Executive parties to govern better together.

That is not going to happen. And it won’t happen because there is no reform of the institutions which won’t leave a unilateral veto option in place for unionism and nationalism: meaning that one or the other can topple the institutions whenever it suits their electoral interests.

The Good Friday Agreement was built and then sold in the 1998 referendum on the premise that it would protect the interests of unionism and nationalism.

Those interests, by the way, were for unionism and nationalism – the largest party of each – to define. There doesn’t have to be any logic to what either of them defines as an interest which needs to be protected.

It can, quite literally, be anything they choose to define as of particular importance to their electoral base.

So important, in fact, that it can lead to the complete collapse of the institutions for months or even years on end.

As I say, that veto will exist in some form or other unless and until there is a rewriting of the GFA, followed by a referendum in which a majority endorses the removal of vetoes altogether. That is not going to happen.

In 1998 there may have been a hope that a new electoral generation would leave the past behind and reinvent politics here along the socio-economic lines seen in other European countries; but that hasn’t happened and it isn’t going to happen.

Shifting demographics and the same old constitutional clashes have simply entrenched the past in the present. Our kids and grandkids aren’t doing it for themselves: they’re simply doing what we did.

Another nonsense has it that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland just want good government. They don’t.

If they did, then Sinn Féin and the DUP would not have reaped the benefits of the St Andrews Agreement deal that, to all intents and purposes, created two governments in the one Executive.

The only purpose of that deal was to enable both parties to ensure that every election would be about the biggest party of both communities and, as part of that process, the squeezing out of the smaller varieties.

The deal never had anything to do with making Northern Ireland a better place for everyone: it was always about who would be First Minister.

It’s what a majority has voted for since then; with the SDLP, UUP and TUV buying into it all to try and make themselves relevant.

The third nonsense is that there has been a ‘remarkable growth’ of the centre ground. There hasn’t.

Alliance may have had a post-2017 electoral surge, but most of the evidence now suggests that the surge is dipping and receding.

Anyway, Alliance isn’t actually a centre party; merely a party that places itself – uncomfortably, or so it seems to me – between the two communities.

In so doing it actually facilitates and perpetuates their way of doing politics. Indeed, there’s a compelling argument to be made that Alliance is, more or less, still occupying the role it had when it emerged over 50 years ago.

To be honest, I’m not persuaded that a new and genuine centre ground is possible against a background where the shadow of the gunman has been replaced by the shadow of the border poll.

The political centre requires compromise; yet what, other than the ongoing stalemate, is the compromise between those wanting a united Ireland and those supporting the constitutional status quo?

All of which leaves Alliance disliked and distrusted by both nationalism and unionism.

Which is ok, I suppose, because unionism dislikes and distrusts nationalism and nationalism dislikes and distrusts unionism.

Polling of Alliance members in The Alliance Party Of Northern Ireland (Professor Jon Tonge et al) indicates that 95%, 87% and 46% dislike/strongly dislike the DUP, SF and UUP – meaning there’s not a lot of love lost between the party and its Executive colleagues.

The biggest nonsense of all, though, is that the Executive can ever deliver good, collectively agreed governance.

I really don’t see how it can. The reform it requires is not deliverable.

Election results suggest that a majority prioritises continuing polarity over cohesion and compromise.

The constitutional question is likely to predominate and eclipse every other issue.

Trust between the parties is non-existent. Failure is taken as a given by the parties and their electoral bases.

But the British and Irish governments will continue to indulge the farce.

Neither of them wants the GFA to formally collapse because they don’t want the accompanying headaches.

So the Executive will stagger on like a perpetual drunk, trying to convince himself and his family that the AA sessions are really helping.

https://www.irishnews.com/opinion/alex-kane-here-are-four-myths-about-the-assembly-debunked-E6ROP2O4SRFYPKG5GE7AFPRQ6Y/

Mike Nesbitt has resigned as health minister amid a row with the UUP leader Jon Burrows.

The decision comes following a clash between the pair over withdrawing emergency general surgery (EGS) services from Causeway Hospital.

Nesbitt served twice as leader of the party, first from 2012 until 2017 and again from 2024 until earlier this year when Burrows took over.

Last week Burrows, who is a North Antrim MLA, told a town hall meeting that he did not support emergency general surgery being removed from Causeway.

The position appeared at odds with the Department of Health's policy on the matter, after the Northern Health Trust previously recommended that EGS should only be provided at one of its hospital sites.

Nesbitt was unable to attend due to a constituency election meeting in Strangford.

UUP leader Jon Burrows attended in his place. He voiced opposition to the closure of the EGS service.

Last Wednesday, Burrows said he did not agree with that and would "never agree with it".

"Emergency surgery must remain at the Causeway Hospital and it should be built up, not run down and that is my position and it's not for negotiation."

However, he stopped short of saying whether or not he would direct Nesbitt not to sign off on the move.

In a statement on Tuesday, a UUP spokesperson confirmed Nesbitt's resignation.

"We thank him sincerely for his service and for the leadership he has given to our health and social care workforce," they said.

"Mike took on one of the most difficult briefs in government with a genuine determination to make health and social care better for everyone in Northern Ireland.

"From beginning the shift towards a neighbourhood model of care, to putting health inequalities at the centre of policy, he leaves a significant legacy, not least the progress made on some of Northern Ireland's longest waiting lists."

It is unclear who will take over as health minister. The UUP said it will set out further details on next steps shortly.

Nesbitt's decision to quit leaves the party seven days to nominate a replacement.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgvyg60g3no

The First Minister has accused the DUP of being "anti-Irish".

Michelle O'Neill said her party is frustrated by how Stormont is working and reform is needed.

The deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly hit back and said it is "manufactured outrage" from Sinn Féin.

Meanwhile, during a visit to Belfast on Thursday, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said all the parties have an obligation to ensure Stormont remains in place.

Michelle O'Neill said: "We know that we have one partner around that Executive table that is anti-Irish in their approach, thathas an approach which is about delay and frustrating progress.

"However, I will continue to turn up every day because I believe in making powersharing work. I believe in trying to do our very best for people. I believe in fighting for a fair budget for people," she added.

"I think what's been articulated by both Conor (Murphy) and also my colleague Declan Kearney is the frustration that people feel because of the DUP's approach to the Executive."

Emma Little-Pengelly said: "I think there's a real sense of manufactured outrage. I think that there's a real sense that Sinn Féin at the moment are trying to ramp things up.

"I don't know why but, of course, for my part and for the part of my party and my DUP colleagues in the Executive, we will continue to get on and do the work."

In Belfast, Micheál Martin was asked how concerned he was about the stability of Stormont.

He responded: “I think there is an obligation on all political parties to ensure that Stormont is maintained, the Executive and the Assembly right up to election day.

“I think the people demand that sort of political maturity to make sure that withstanding all of the difficulties that the institutions prevail.”

The Taoiseach said he supported calls by a number of the parties for reform at Stormont to bolster political stability.

He added: “I certainly support reform, I have been supporting reform of the institutions for quite a number of years.

“Not everybody at the time agreed, but bit by bit more and more are coming around to supporting reform.

“I will speak to the new British Prime Minister in September, and I note the comments of the new Northern Ireland Secretary of State.

“I believe that collectively we have to work together to bring forward legislation that is required.”

https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2026-08-06/michelle-oneill-accuses-dup-of-being-anti-irish

PM argues for codified model of decentralisation that would fundamentally change centuries-old workings of state

Andy Burnham has said his programme of devolution strengthens the case for a written constitution for the UK, a move that would fundamentally alter the workings of the state that have developed over centuries.

The prime minister has long believed the UK’s “antiquated” political system needs a dramatic overhaul if opportunity is to be shared equally across the country.

The UK is one of only a few major democracies without a written constitution, a document that codifies how a nation is governed within a set of fundamental rules.

In a potentially historic shift, Burnham said this weekend that his government’s programme of decentralisation – which includes giving regional leaders much greater control over their finances – strengthens the argument for a codified arrangement.

“It will increase the case for a constitution because Britain is changing through this, England is certainly changing through this,” he said.

Burnham said the UK needed to devise a codified model of devolution that works for Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the English regions.

“In the end, I think it does start to point towards a new constitutional settlement … with that commitment to equivalent living standards,” he said, adding that his pledge of “good growth in every postcode” was “more than just a soundbite”.

Burnham described the further devolution measures outlined on Friday as the most radical departure from Britain’s overcentralised political establishment. The “rewiring” of the UK had “gone to a new level of seriousness” and was centred on shifting decision-making outside Whitehall to mayors and local authorities through No 10 North.

Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said introducing a written constitution would be a “huge departure” for the UK. Historically, most countries did it “in the wake of a revolution or a war that has removed or delegitimised the former regime”.

It is unclear how the UK government would go about such significant constitutional change at the same time as pursuing Burnham’s agenda on issues such as devolution, social care and public control of utilities.

While it would bring the UK into line with other democracies such as the US, Bale said it could “represent a major constraint on the executive … because it would presumably put the rules of the game beyond the power of parliament to change with a simple majority”.

He added: “One of the upsides is that it might better define the competencies of the various levels of government – local, regional and national. But there is no way he will be able to limit it to that.”

In his 2024 book Head North, written with the Liverpool city region mayor, Steve Rotheram, Burnham said deep inequality had become entrenched in Britain partly because it had not evolved from a “feudal state” in which power is largely concentrated in Westminster.

“Our failure fully to set out the rules for how the country should be run is one of the principal reasons why Britain is one of the most unequal major countries in the world,” he wrote.

“Our unwritten and murky constitutional arrangements have had the effect of hoarding power in a small number of hands – in Whitehall and Westminster and, by extension, in the powerful networks of institutions and vested interests that surround them.”

Burnham has cited as inspiration Germany’s postwar basic law, or Grundgesetz, which stipulates there must be equivalent living standards in all the country’s states, with the wealthier regions redistributing their funds across the nation.

Under devolution plans announced last week, by early 2028 regional mayors across England will be able to keep a share of income tax generated in their area.

Under proposals to be published in late October, it is expected that economic powerhouses, such as London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, will hand some of their share to less prosperous regions, such as Hull and East Yorkshire.

Dr Hannah White, the chief executive of the Institute for Government, said: “Adopting a written constitution – of the kind almost every other country already has – would represent a very significant constitutional shift for the UK and be a major exercise. A fully codified constitution would need to go far beyond devolution to encompass all the rules which structure the UK state.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/02/devolution-programme-written-uk-constitution-andy-burnham

• DUP leader Gavin Robinson hit back saying his party is committed to Northern Ireland

Sinn Féin has sounded a warning on the future of powersharing in Northern Ireland, claiming the “behaviour of the DUP” is “frustrating” delivery.

Senator Conor Murphy claimed powersharing is in a “precarious place”, and that the DUP “don’t have the political will to make it work”.

He insisted his party is “wedded to powersharing”, but that the DUP “is there because they have to be there”.

“The DUP have demonstrated that they don’t have a political will to make the Assembly work and that poses bigger questions for powersharing … the institutions are in a precarious place,” he said.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson hit back saying he and his colleagues are “committed to not only the institutions but delivering for the people we are proud to represent”.

“We don’t shy away from the challenges, and nor will we be goaded by that sort of commentary, we’re here today and we’re here every day willing to step up and stand up for the people of Northern Ireland,” he said.

Alliance leader Naomi Long urged all sides to “take a step back, take a deep breath and recognise elections will come and go, and we will still have to do business with each other, but focus for the next nine months on what we can actually achieve”.

The statements came as parties visited Hillsborough Castle for meetings with the new Secretary of State Chris Bryant.

Sir Chris arrived in the region for his first official visit in post on Friday, and visited defence systems plant Thales in east Belfast ahead of meeting the Stormont parties later.

Speaking about his new role, Mr Bryant said he is looking forward to the challenge and said he can be “an honest and fair broker between people who don’t agree on everything”.

However he said he was “nervous” about the prospect of “walking on eggshells”, telling media in Belfast: “I think if everybody spends all their time wondering about whether an individual politician is going to say the right thing or put it in the right way, then we’ve all lost.”

Ministers across the four-party Executive have consistently made the point that they need more money from the Treasury to address a funding crisis facing public services in the region.

From Saturday, just 95% of last year’s funding will be available to spend after the Executive passes a deadline to agree a budget under public finance laws.

Stormont Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole had sounded alarms about this deadline, pressing Executive ministers to act to avoid facing this effective funding cut.

Earlier Stormont Finance Minister John O’Dowd said it is “decision time” for the UK Government to properly fund Northern Ireland.

Mr O’Dowd said while Mr Bryant and Chancellor John Healey have recently come into post, their officials are aware of the issues in the region.

Responding to those comments, Mr Bryant said he is not expecting any decisions to be made today around the Stormont budget.

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/sinn-fein-sounds-warning-over-future-of-powersharing-amid-dup-behaviour-EOYLPHK7IJBHXKCL5OMM6RM6SY/