SDLP leader Colum Eastwood calls for new law to stop election if Stormont fails

The prime minister should fast track legislation at Westminster to stop an immediate assembly election if devolution collapses, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has said.

The Foyle MP called for new laws to go through the Commons urgently.

He accused the DUP of having a "petulant strop" by threatening to walk away from the executive if the Northern Ireland Protocol does not change.

Boris Johnson said it was important Stormont was robust and continued.

He said the Northern Ireland Protocol created "lop-sidedness" and did not satisfy the Good Friday Agreement.

• DUP may quit Stormont 'within weeks' over protocol

• Dial down political rhetoric on protocol - EU chief

Meanwhile, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the EU should stop using Northern Ireland as a "political football".

Lose-lose scenario?

He said it is a "dangerous game" and added that "Northern Ireland should not be used as some kind of ping pong between the UK and the EU".

The DUP Leader was giving evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee.

He told peers that the "delicate constitutional balance" in Northern Ireland was "too fragile for people to play games with".

Colum Eastwood said legislation needs to go through the Commons urgently

Last week, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson warned that his party may quit Stormont within weeks if its demands over the Northern Ireland Protocol were not met.

He also said his party would boycott most north-south ministerial meetings and warned that it could not be "business as usual".

Speaking to the Lords committee, Sir Jeffrey said there needed to be changes to the protocol and said that "peace and prosperity are twins" that go hand in hand.

The Lagan Valley MP also said that difficulties over the protocol must not be allowed to "drag out".

On Wednesday, Stormont's finance committee heard the Northern Ireland Protocol described as "dysfunctional, bureaucratic and unsustainable".

Geoff Potter, from lorry maker Gray and Adams, said far from being the "best of both words", the protocol had led to a "lose-lose" scenario for many businesses.

He said while some companies had benefited from the protocol, the idea that having the best of both worlds through dual access to the EU and GB markets did not hold true.

Mark Tait, from Target Transport, told the committee: "It's an absolute bureaucratic mess from our point of view, having to move goods across the Irish Sea which we know are not destined for the Republic of Ireland or EU market.

"I counted 45 shipments we had in one day, three of them were destined for RoI (Irish Republic), but yet I had to do declarations for all 45 shipments."