Boris Johnson is set to make an emergency visit to Northern Ireland, as the crisis over the protocol deepened with the unionist DUP blocking the election of a speaker at Stormont.
Sinn Fein first minister designate Michelle O’Neill said that she was expecting the prime minister in Northern Ireland on Monday, when she will tell him to “stop pandering to the DUP”, which is refusing to join a power-sharing executive while the protocol is in place.
Her comments will fuel expectations that the PM will announce plans to pass legislation to override parts of the controversial Northern Ireland protocol, which he agreed in 2019 in order to keep the border with the Republic open after Brexit but which he now blames for disruption to trade.
