The secretary of state has denied he is threatening the DUP with spending cuts and tax rises if it does not restore Stormont.
Chris Heaton-Harris has sent a list of suggestions, such as domestic water charges, to civil servants for costing. However, none could be implemented without direct rule. The list is not so much a threat as a negotiation with the DUP over its demand to increase the block grant and change the way Stormont is funded.
The real kicking Heaton-Harris gave the unionist party this week was revealing he is still “waiting to hear” from it on the Windsor Framework.
The DUP says it wants safeguards on sovereignty and trade but it will not say what they are, as then it would be responsible for a sea border deal. It wants the government to do all the work instead, enabling the DUP to keep its distance from a deal while returning to Stormont anyway, using the block grant as a distraction.
Heaton-Harris is one step away from calling this out.
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The odds are shortening on Emma Little-Pengelly becoming the DUP’s deputy first minister, although Gordon Lyons remains the safest assumption.
This has raised the question of whether a co-opted assembly member can lead the executive. Nominating someone not elected to their seat would strain democratic legitimacy, although nothing in the rules prevents it.
There has been a co-opted minister before but alas it was Little-Pengelly herself, when she was a junior minister from 2015 to 2016. Once is unfortunate, twice looks like carelessness.
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Mark Durkan has said the first and deputy first minister roles should be “equally titled” as “joint first ministers”. The former SDLP leader, who was testifying to a Westminster committee, said this could create “powerful symbolism” to address domestic problems and impress international investors.
His argument was perfectly rational but it must now address the perception unionists simply will not accept second place, even in a symbolic title. The DUP will have to take the deputy first minister’s post for at least one full assembly term before any change of title would enhance powersharing rather than undermining it.
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The DUP is objecting to a plan for English and Irish signage at Belfast’s new Olympia Leisure Centre, saying it is not wanted by residents in the nearby Village area.
If we are to have this dispute over every council sign in Northern Ireland, as appears to be the DUP’s intention, nationalist politicians need a better response than repeating the Irish language belongs to us all. While no doubt well meant, the argument is naive, ineffective and confused – if Irish belongs to unionists, why can they not say no to it?
‘This is a reasonable nationalist requirement for shared spaces’ would be straightforward honesty. At worst, it would put unionism on the spot. At best, it might open the way to identifying a matching unionist requirement and finding a general solution.
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Various media outlets have reported a “plan” for 900 houses on the former Mackie’s site in west Belfast. It would be more accurate to call this a suggestion, from a campaign group – Take Back the City – that is frustratingly vague on how it might be funded.
The group does not want private housing, or affordable or co-ownership schemes, nor does it trust private developers to build a proportion of social housing.
That leaves the basic model of housing associations providing social housing, with 50/50 Stormont and private funding. If this costs the same as the regeneration announced for Belfast’s New Lodge two years ago, the bill for Stormont alone would be £300 million.
Tellingly, the plan has been rejected by every party at Belfast City Council except People Before Profit.
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Unionists did not win enough council seats in Derry and Strabane last month to nominate a mayor under the d’Hondt system. There will be a Sinn Féin mayor for three years and an SDLP mayor for one.
The BBC’s Northern Ireland news website published an article criticising Sinn Féin for not giving one of its years up for a unionist, for the sake of inclusion.
Although the article provoked nationalist criticism, it appears to have been written from the perspective of a nationalist wishing to set a better example than unionism, rather than a unionist complaining of being excluded.
The real concern about the piece, which was subsequently updated, is that it was political comment presented as news, a distinction it is important for the BBC to maintain.
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Alliance has started a legal challenge over last month’s council election in Derry, after a self-described election enthusiast, John Cartwright, noticed a mistake in the counting of transfers.
The complexity of Northern Ireland’s PR-STV counting process has also been raised by Peter Emerson (no relation) of electoral reform group the de Borda Institute.
As an example he cites Craigavon, where all Sinn Féin’s surplus votes transferred to unionists, electing the UUP over the DUP. This is “unbelievable nonsense”, according to Emerson, although he stresses the issue is “capricious” rules and “the electoral officials involved are all very fair”.
The institute wants the rules to be reviewed. Any new type of election this produces should of course be called a de Borda poll.
