Warm smiles on the steps of Stormont but already talk heats up on unity poll
Evening Standard|February 05, 2024
RISHI SUNAK set the seal on a historic shift in Northern Ireland today as he shook hands with nationalist first minister Michelle O’Neill at Stormont Castle.
Jitendra Joshi
Warm smiles on the steps of Stormont but already talk heats up on unity poll

The province’s assembly and power-sharing executive got back to business after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) ended a two-year boycott in return for renewed Government promises over post-Brexit trade and a £3.3 billion budget sweetener.

Mr Sunak met Ms O’Neill and DUP deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, at Stormont — the seat of direct rule by London during the Troubles — before also meeting Irish premier Leo Varadkar. The leaders put on warm smiles for the cameras shortly after the Prime Minister toured the assembly buildings, which were erected nearly a century ago as a visible stamp of unionist authority.

During opening pleasantries, Mr Sunak said: “It has taken a lot of hard work and indeed courage to get us sitting round this table. Today isn’t the end, it’s the beginning and the real work starts now.”

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