Sunak to meet new leaders of Stormont Executive after two-year political impasse

Rishi Sunak will be at Stormont on Monday, where he will meet Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly, the leaders of the new executive, ITV News Political Correspondent Tom Sheldrick reports

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is to visit Northern Ireland to meet the leaders of the new powersharing Executive after the Assembly returned following a two-year political deadlock.

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is also expected to visit Stormont on Monday.

Sinn Fein's Michelle O’Neill made history on Saturday as she became Northern Ireland's first nationalist first minister.

Ms O'Neill pledged to work with unionists to build a better future for Northern Ireland in her first speech.

The institutions were restored following a deal between Mr Sunak’s government and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to allay unionist concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Mr Sunak will be welcomed to Stormont Castle on Monday by Ms O’Neill and deputy first minister, the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly.

During his visit he will also carry out a number of community engagements, meeting people involved in public services.

The government has pledged £3.3 billion for the new Executive to stabilise finances, including £600 million to settle public sector pay claims.

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On Thursday, the government fast-tracked two pieces of legislation contained in the agreement through the House of Commons as part of its agreement with the DUP, opening the way for Saturday’s return of the Assembly.

The new Executive is due to hold its first meeting on Monday.

Michelle O’Neill, left, with Mary Lou McDonald in the first minister’s office at Stormont Credit: Liam McBurney/PA

Ms O’Neill said that it will need to begin work immediately on tackling public sector funding challenges.

She said: “I am determined to do our very best.

“This place has been starved of public services funding for over a decade because of the Tories in London, we can do much better than that.

“That’s a fight I think we have to fight together and I think there’s a combined effort across the Executive to have a proper funding model for here so we actually can do better public services and invest in the public sector workers.”