Face of Nation : The PM held a series of meetings with the five main Stormont parties, in which Brexit was also discussed.
NI has been without a government since January 2017, when the power-sharing DUP/Sinn Féin coalition collapsed. On Tuesday, Mr Johnson held a private meeting with senior DUP figures, whose support he relies on in Parliament.
The prime minister left Northern Ireland on Wednesday afternoon and a Downing Street spokesperson said Mr Johnson told the parties while there had been constructive progress in the talks at Stormont, “there now needed to be serious and intense engagement to get this done”.
The spokesperson added that Mr Johnson had told the parties the UK would be leaving the EU on 31 October “come what may” and his intention was to do so with a deal. In all scenarios, the government was committed to the Good Friday Agreement and in no circumstances would there be physical checks or infrastructure on the border, they said.
Following her meetings with Mr Johnson, DUP leader Arlene Foster said “talk of a border poll” was not something Boris Johnson was “entertaining”. She met the prime minister along with DUP MPs Nigel Dodds, Emma Little-Pengelly and Gavin Robinson.
Sinn Féin said if a no-deal Brexit happens, the government must call a referendum on Irish unity “immediately”. But Mrs Foster said the Conservative government would “never be neutral on the union”. She said discussions regarding the confidence and supply pact the two parties share was for “another day” but defended the £1bn in spending for NI the DUP had secured in the past.
