DUP agrees deal to end boycott of Northern Ireland government and restore powersharing

Northern Ireland’s top unionist party have announced they will end their boycott of the government after more than 700 days following a mammoth overnight meeting.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, emerged after 1am this morning to announce he had secured the “decisive” backing of his executive to resume power sharing with the nationalists.

“I am pleased to report that the party executive has now endorsed the proposals that I have put to them,” he told reporters in the early hours of Tuesday.

“The party has concluded that subject to the binding commitments between the Democratic Unionist Party and the UK government being fully and faithfully delivered as agreed, including the tabling and passing of new legislative measures in and final agreement on a timetable, the package of measures in totality does provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the Northern Ireland Executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions.”