Keir Starmer: Labour leader calls on PM to step in over NI Protocol

Sir Keir Starmer said a Stormont collapse "is the last thing we need"

The Labour leader says the Prime Minister needs to step in over the Northern Ireland Protocol and ensure the Stormont institutions are maintained.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says his party might collapse power-sharing unless the Protocol issue is resolved.

Mr Donaldson also said his party may seek an early Assembly election.

But speaking ahead of his party conference, Sir Keir Starmer said collapse "is the last thing we need".

And he claimed the lack of trust in Boris Johnson from both communities is worse than he has seen for many years.

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He told BBC Northern Ireland: "I do think that our prime minister should step in and play his part in ensuring that the institutions are maintained.

"I was very struck when I was in Northern Ireland just a few months ago at the lack of trust in the British Prime Minister, the likes of which I've not seen for many, many years," he said.

Asked if he was saying the Prime Minister should give the DUP what they want he said: "No, what I'm saying is he needs to take a leadership role in Northern Ireland.

"At the moment what's happening is he negotiated a protocol," he added.

"He's pretending it isn't what it is and he's absent from leadership in Northern Ireland.

"The trust of both communities in Northern Ireland is crucial for British prime ministers and this prime minister has lost the trust of many people in Northern Ireland."

'Be straight about negotiations'

Asked what he would do differently, he said: "Well, the first thing is I'd be straight about what had been negotiated.

"You can't kid people in Northern Ireland; they don't buy the idea the prime minister negotiated this protocol and didn't know what it was or it's different to what he thought," he said.

"They don't buy. They know he knew what he was negotiating.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says his party might collapse power-sharing unless the Protocol issue is resolved

"So I would be honest about what has been negotiated. Absolute commitment to the Good Friday Agreement is one of the most important things that last Labour government achieved, and instead of going round around in circles, we need to move forward.

"I think some sort of agreement, a veterinary agreement might be the beginnings of a way forward, but a degree of honesty and clarity about what the issue is (is required) and recognising that the prime minister needs to lead on this."

Sir Keir said he hoped there would be movement on the issue in the next couple of weeks.

"Never forget that the prime minister promised that he wasn't going to put any barriers in the Irish Sea, and he's ended up doing precisely that," he said.

On the government's controversial legacy proposals, he said it was clear victims' families and survivors do not support a blanket amnesty for all perpetrators.

"We haven't seen the proposals yet. They haven't come through Parliament but what I wouldn't do, I would not push through legislation in Westminster which didn't have the support of a single political party in Northern Ireland," he said.

"I do not believe that's the way forward."