Talks to break Stormont deadlock go ahead without any nationalists
Unionist politicians suggested it was due to a protocol issue, as Mr Cleverly has not yet met his Irish counterpart, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, and therefore could not meet Ms McDonald, who is also leader of the Opposition, until he had done so.
Speaking in central Belfast, Ms McDonald told reporters it was “bizarre and unprecedented” that the British government “chose to seek to exclude the leader of Sinn Féin from a leaders’ meeting”. Ms McDonald said she would raise her concerns with the UK prime minister and at a “time where we need maximum inclusion, maximum engagement, maximum dialogue, we don’t need this kind of nonsense, we don’t need this kind of divisive, disrespectful politics”.
Andrew Muir of Alliance said his party was “profoundly disappointed the decision was made to prescribe who could attend from the political parties” while the Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said it was a “shame” Sinn Féin and the SDLP were not present. Mr Heaton-Harris is not expected to call an election on that date, and speaking to reporters afterwards Mr Donaldson cast further doubt on the likelihood of a swift poll, saying: “I don’t believe that arbitrary deadlines achieve much in terms of negotiations of this nature. Surely we’ve learned from the past that setting arbitrary deadlines is not the way.”
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