DUP: Edwin Poots says he will announce ministerial team 'when ready'

Democratic Unionist Party leader Edwin Poots said he would announce his ministerial line-up in a number of days "when ready".

Mr Poots said he would not be "pushed into doing it, nor be held back from doing it".

He has denied the party is divided after tensions flared at a meeting last week ratifying his leadership.

On Tuesday, his deputy, Paula Bradley, said the meeting "wasn't pleasant", but said divisions can be healed.

In her first interview since becoming DUP deputy leader, Ms Bradley told BBC News NI that the party will not "regress" under Mr Poots' leadership, but progress.

Last Thursday, Mr Poots and Ms Bradley were ratified during a meeting of the party's executive, but a number of senior party members left before Mr Poots delivered his speech.

They included Lagan Valley MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson - who ran against Mr Poots for the leadership - Lord Dodds, Economy Minister Diane Dodds and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson.

The party endorsed an earlier vote by MLAs and MPs to make Mr Poots leader, but it came amid anger from some quarters about how Mrs Foster was ousted as leader last month.

She said her departure from the party was "even by DUP standards, pretty brutal" in an interview with BBC Newscast.

Ms Bradley, who has not spoken to Mrs Foster, said she does not see that the party is deeply divided.

"There are divisions, but I think those divisions can be healed," Ms Bradley said.

Ms Bradley said Mrs Foster needed to go, as the party needed to be "invigorated".

"I felt we had become stale, I felt that there were issues ... people were feeling somewhat at sea as a member of the DUP," said Ms Bradley, who signed the letter of no-confidence in Mrs Foster.

"I'm not saying she was to blame for all of that. She was the figurehead, she was the leader. Sadly, that's the way politics works."

She also said she has a good relationship with Mr Poots and that their different stances on social issues will not cause problems.

Earlier, following a meeting with DUP assembly members, Mr Poots announced back-room changes within the party, including the appointment of East Belfast MLA Joanne Bunting as the party's chief whip, along with Trevor Clarke, MLA for South Antrim, and William Humphrey, MLA for North Belfast, as the party's assistant chief whips.

Upper Bann MLA Jonathan Buckley will be Mr Poots' chief of staff.

Amid speculation Mr Poots would announce his ministerial line-up, the new DUP leader said: "I didn't give any indication of when I intend to announce my ministers.

"That is something I will do when I am ready to do it.

"A course of work is being done in terms of my engagement with MPs, MLAs and colleagues.

"That course of work is coming close to completion and I will make my announcement in a number of days when I'm ready."

Former DUP leader Arlene Foster had planned to stand down as first minister at the end of June, but has said she will resign before then if Mr Poots changes the current ministerial team.

Her resignation will trigger a seven-day countdown for the roles of first and deputy first ministers to be filled.

Mr Poots said he was working to get the "right team, with the right balance".

"There will be lots of people coming into the team who previously haven't been utilised before and there will be others who will be utilised in different ways," Mr Poots said.

The new DUP leader said he had received no "ultimatum" from Sinn Féin about issues that it wants to see dealt with before the party supports nominations for first and deputy first ministers.

Later in the assembly, Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said there could be no "stepping back" on commitments made under the New Decade, New Approach deal.

Ms O'Neill said Irish language legislation was a key component and delivery needed to be made before the end of the assembly mandate.

"There can be no stepping back on the commitments that were made, and there can be no more false dawns," Ms O'Neill said.

The New Decade, New Approach deal, which restored power sharing in January 2020, contained commitments on health, language, legacy and the environment.

It committed the parties to establishing an Office of Identity and Cultural Expression, which would put in place provision for services in Irish and Ulster-Scots.

Through the office, new Irish and Ulster-Scots commissioners to enhance and develop the languages were to be appointed as well, although these processes have yet to take place.

All of the parties are mindful that we are in the middle of a pandemic, we have an economic recovery to steer Northern Ireland towards and I think that they will try as best they can to avoid putting us on the edge of a cliff.

But we know that when we go into a tunnel of negotiations, sometimes it is very hard to ultimately figure out where we end up.

And there is a potential stumbling block on the horizon on the Irish language.

Edwin Poots in the past has said he is pretty relaxed about Irish language legislation. He helped negotiate the deal in New Decade, New Approach.

But we also know that there are those in his party during the leadership campaign who perhaps got promises around Irish language legislation maybe not being brought in now given the anger and uncertainty within unionism due to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

So, Mr Poots has a lot of juggling behind the scenes to do.

Earlier on Tuesday, DUP Education Minister Peter Weir said he was "loyal to the party", regardless of his future within the executive.

The minister declined to comment on speculation he could be replaced in the role at some stage this week.

He also said he did not want to speculate on who may replace him as education minister.

But he said he would continue to "fight the corner for unionism".

"There's a lot of inside-the-bubble talk of who's getting what," he said.

Mr Weir said he did not want to talk about the internal affairs of the DUP, but added it had been a "bruising month for the party and a lot of people individually".