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A senior DUP politician has said he believes his party will continue to \u201chave leverage\u201d over the Conservative Party following the UK election.<\/p>\nA senior DUP politician has said he believes his party will continue to \u201chave leverage\u201d over the Conservative Party following the UK election.<\/p>\n
Lagan Valley candidate Jeffrey Donaldson said he is \u201cnot convinced\u201d that Boris Johnson\u2019s Tories will be returned with a \u201chuge majority\u201d, which he said will give his party \u201cleverage\u201d.<\/p>\n
He made the comments a day after Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster made it clear that her party would not support a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government in a hung parliament.<\/p>\n
The DUP propped up the outgoing government with a confidence and supply deal.<\/p>\n
Addressing business leaders in a panel of representatives from the five main political parties in Northern Ireland, Mr Donaldson spoke of his hopes for a resumption of devolved government in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not convinced Boris Johnson is going to come back with a huge majority and I think that gives us leverage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst we can go to Westminster and we can do what we do, I believe it is ultimately much more powerful if there is a collective voice from Northern Ireland saying what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stormont institutions have been collapsed for more than two years following a breakdown in relations between the DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in South Down candidate Chris Hazzard said he also felt hopeful that devolved government could be restored.<\/p>\n
He repeated his party\u2019s position that there had been a compromise on the talks table last year over one of the sticking points in negotiations \u2013 calls for an Irish Language Act.<\/p>\n
SDLP South Belfast candidate Claire Hanna said if the DUP and Conservatives do not resume their deal after the election, the dynamic will change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if the Conservatives and DUP aren\u2019t in their arrangement, I think that changes the dynamic quite fundamentally in terms of how the UK Government approaches this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will come back to the answer of power-sharing, compromise and partnership because there simply isn\u2019t another one.\u201d<\/p>\n
We need to make Northern Ireland work again<\/p>\n
Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken sounded a warning at the CBI\u2019s An Audience With Northern Ireland\u2019s Political Leaders event at Law Society House on Wednesday morning that devolved government in the region may not be savable.<\/p>\n
The East Antrim candidate described himself as a \u201crealist\u201d as he said there needs to be a \u201cfundamental shift in the culture of how we do government in Northern Ireland\u201d, describing how it had been as \u201cnot a partnership\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter this General Election we have got three weeks probably to see whether Northern Ireland\u2019s government is savable. If it is not, we are going to have to get into direct rule because we must have decisions which are going to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make Northern Ireland work again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Alliance Party\u2019s North Down candidate, Stephen Farry, said he was not hopeful but that the stalemate needed to be sorted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen London is looking at Brexit, Northern Ireland is an afterthought. Even though we are the big complex issue in terms of how we address this, we are still an afterthought in their considerations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only people who care about this place are the five parties up here on this panel. We have to get it together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I\u2019m not hopeful because of what has happened in the past, the logic of us getting back round the table and getting this sorted is ever clearer.\u201d<\/p>\n