Skip to content

NI abortion: DUP urge Stormont recall to stop law change

Getty Images Nigel Dodds and Arlene FosterGetty Images
The DUP has opposed Westminster legislating over the head of NI ministers on abortion reform

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) says it is urging the Stormont Assembly to be recalled in a last-ditch attempt to stop the reform of NI's abortion law.

Laws on abortion and same-sex marriage in NI will change unless devolution is restored by 21 October.

The DUP has publicly opposed Westminster legislating over the head of local ministers on abortion reform.

However, some have questioned the timing of the party's move.

Brexit pressure 'deflection'?

The DUP is right at the heart of the Brexit saga, with senior party figures meeting the prime minister two nights in a row this week, as speculation mounts that the UK could make concessions on customs checks.

On Tuesday afternoon, as the party continued to face questions about whether it would shift its own Brexit position any further, it released a statement saying it supported a call by the Northern Ireland peer, Baroness O'Loan, for the assembly to be recalled urgently to block abortion law change.

Getty Images StormontGetty Images
The Stormont institutions have been suspended for more than two years

It said the party's assembly team had agreed to seek such a move following a meeting on Monday.

In a tweet, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill described the move as "a pointless political stunt".

Presentational white space

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read  and  before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Presentational white space

Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie also dismissed the move as a "stunt" and argued that it looked like a move by the DUP to claim to voters that they had tried to do something in order to placate anti-abortion views.

Other Stormont sources are even more sceptical with some believing perhaps the strategy on recalling the assembly is a "mega deflection" - an attempt to move the focus on the party from Brexit to something else entirely.

The DUP, for its part, says it has consistently called for the return of Stormont - and says any MLA opposed to abortion law reform should "step outside party shackles" and join them in recalling the assembly.

But would recalling the assembly stop the law changing?

No it wouldn't.

Firstly, recalling the Stormont assembly is a rare occurrence in itself.

The power rests with the assembly speaker - not the secretary of state - and they must receive a request from at least 30 MLAs to have the assembly recalled.

The DUP has 28 MLAs, but the speaker (currently the DUP's Robin Newton) cannot sign a petition for the assembly to be recalled.

Therefore, three MLAs from other parties would need to back the proposal too.

Independent unionist MLA Claire Sugden tweeted that she would back such a move.

Presentational white space

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read  and  before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Presentational white space

Furthermore, the terms of the legislation which set out the conditions for abortion law reform and same-sex marriage coming into Northern Ireland require more than just the assembly being recalled.

The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act specifically states that positions within the Stormont Executive must be filled on or before 21 October 2019, in order for the new laws not to take effect.

It is also understood the first order of business in any return of the assembly would be the election of a new speaker.

So even if the DUP managed to get enough MLAs to back a recall this week or on Monday, the chances of nominating and naming new executive ministers in order to squash the terms of the Westminster laws seems pretty slim.

Getty Images Michelle O'Neill and Mary Lou McDonaldGetty Images
Sinn Féin has given no indication it is willing to nominate ministers to the Stormont power-sharing executive

It would require the biggest nationalist party - currently Sinn Féin - to nominate some ministers to the power-sharing executive, and there is no indication it is willing to do so.

Where do talks to restore Stormont come into this?

Since the Northern Ireland Act was passed by MPs, all-party talks to restore Stormont have mostly fallen by the wayside.

Some commentators believe Sinn Féin and other Stormont parties in favour of the law changing on those issues are content to wait it out until after 21 October, to allow those reforms to happen and see them removed from the wider talks process.

However, in the past couple of weeks, Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith was pushing for fresh talks ahead of the 21 October deadline, arguing it was better for the Stormont parties to legislate on such matters.

He is due to chair 11th hour "intensive" cross-party talks on Thursday and Friday at Stormont.

It is not clear how the DUP's bid for the assembly to be recalled might impact those discussions.

But given the negative reaction from some party sources already to the DUP's recall proposition, a breakthrough of any kind at Stormont in the near future seems unlikely.