UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday urged Northern Ireland unionists to agree to unblock the Stormont Assembly during a speech at Queen’s University to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
»I urge you to work with us to get Stormont back on track. That is the right thing to do on its own terms. And I am convinced it is also the right thing to do for our union,» Sunak said, according to a British government statement.
The British Prime Minister said, in the presence of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and other personalities, such as the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that »Northern Ireland is stronger within the United Kingdom.
»We also need to generate support beyond those of us who already identify as Unionists. To do that, we have to demonstrate that devolved government within the UK works for Northern Ireland,» she reminded.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refuses to return to the Executive until the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol is resolved on its terms, so the process has been blocked for months after a vote to nominate the Stormont chairman and deputy chairman failed to go ahead.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)