Warm smiles on the steps of Stormont but already talk heats up on unity poll

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

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.”