Robinson insists party ‘fully behind’ his position on Drumcree dispute

DUP leader Gavin Robinson has insisted his party remains fully behind him in the aftermath of Carla Lockhart’s resignation.

Upper Bann MP Ms Lockhart quit the DUP on Monday over its handling of the fallout from the Drumcree parading dispute.

She will now sit as an independent unionist in the House of Commons.

Her widely expected resignation came after a public disagreement with Mr Robinson over his decision not to remove Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill from her role as First Minister.

Ms Lockhart believes Ms O’Neill can no longer serve as one of Stormont’s co-leaders due to her participation in an allegedly unlawful protest against an Orange Order Drumcree parade in Portadown in September.

Ms O’Neill and several of her party colleagues are being investigated by police for taking part in the protest on the Garvaghy Road that was staged to prevent the parade proceeding through the predominantly nationalist area. The party figures have attended a police station in Belfast for voluntary interviews.

The MP had called on her party to withdraw DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly from her office – a move that would automatically force Ms O’Neill from her role.

Mr Robinson stopped short of pulling out Ms Little-Pengelly but on Thursday last week announced she would no longer participate in joint engagements with Ms O’Neill. Ms Little-Pengelly will also not be giving permission for Ms O’Neill to fulfil engagements on her own in the role of First Minister.

On Tuesday, Mr Robinson was asked whether the episode had left him vulnerable and potentially exposed to a future leadership challenge.

“My party are fully behind the position that we have,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.

“Unanimous decision by officers last Thursday (on not withdrawing Ms Little-Pengelly), unanimous support within the Assembly group (of DUP MLAs) last Thursday too.

“The sad thing about all of this is that you know some within the media, some outside detractors and destructors within unionism, have decided to shift the focus onto the DUP when the focus should be on Sinn Féin, and the focus should be on Michelle O’Neill.”

On Ms Lockhart’s resignation, he added: “I’m very sorry to see her go. I said two weeks ago that I’m not going to be criticising Carla Lockhart. She has been a colleague. She is somebody that I’ve known for over 20 years and have worked together in the past, and will continue to work together. I would far rather that she was within the tent. I appointed Carla as a party officer. I brought her into the party leadership team. I value the contributions that she makes and the views that she has.”

On Monday, First Minister Ms O’Neill insisted she would “not be deterred” from doing her job by the DUP move to block her from taking part in public engagements.

Addressing the Stormont Assembly, the Sinn Féin vice president claimed the DUP was motivated by a “supremacist” approach to nationalists.

The DUP move prevented Ms O’Neill from attending an economic meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh governments in Glasgow last Friday. The First Minister has also been blocked from attending, in an official capacity, the ceremony for Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph in Belfast at the weekend.

On Tuesday, Sinn Féin MLA Cathy Mason told the Assembly that the DUP strategy did not make sense.

“I have to say I am genuinely puzzled by what we are witnessing from the DUP at the minute, and I think a lot of people right across our communities are asking the exact same question – ‘what on earth is going on?’,” she said.

“The DUP tells us time and time again that they want to make this place work. They want to deliver for people. They want to grow our economy, attract investment and build a better future. Yet what they seem to be doing is the very opposite. When we are pressing for proper funding from a British Prime Minister for our public services, the DUP blocked a meeting between the First Minister and the British Prime Minister, and in doing so, block themselves (deputy First Minister) also.”

She added: “Can somebody, anybody, please explain to me how the DUP actions make any sense? How does preventing the First Minister from representing this place, engaging with the British Prime Minister, and promoting economic opportunities benefit a single person living here? How does that create one job, attract one investment, or help one struggling family? It doesn’t. I genuinely, genuinely cannot get my head around it. It’s incomprehensible. It’s illogical and irrational. It’s just bizarre.

“It’s obvious, very, very obvious, that the internal dysfunction within the DUP is now spilling over into the business of government.”

A decision by the Parades Commission adjudication body to allow the Orange Order to parade down the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years prompted a two-week stand-off at the site of what was a notorious parading flashpoint during the Troubles.

The parade was ultimately unable to take place because of significant numbers of protesters on the Garvaghy Road, leading Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant to overturn the commission’s decision and ban the procession. His decision was upheld by a High Court judge last week.

Under parading laws in Northern Ireland, protests must be notified to, and approved by, the Parades Commission.

Police investigating the unnotified Garvaghy Road protest, which was staged on the day the Drumcree parade was meant to proceed on September 27, have said invitations to attend interviews were sent to individuals “reasonably suspected of committing offences”.

Withdrawing Ms Little-Pengelly from her post would automatically force Ms O’Neill from office because of the joint nature of the powersharing structures in Northern Ireland.

Such a step would effectively collapse the devolved administration in Belfast as the Executive could no longer meet to make significant decisions.

However, individual departmental ministers would remain in post for up to six months and the Northern Ireland Assembly could continue to sit.

The furore is playing out amid the customary political manoeuvring that takes place at Stormont ahead of an Assembly election.

The political dispute over Drumcree is also unfolding at a time when Stormont is still without an agreed budget for the current financial year.