Northern Ireland is heading for joint authority, says Lord Alderdice

Lord John Alderdice says recent election results mean direct rule from Westminster is no longer possible

Northern Ireland is on an inevitable trajectory towards joint authority, a former Alliance Party leader has said.

Lord John Alderdice said recent election results meant direct rule from Westminster was no longer possible.

"The unionist majority is gone... it means major political change is coming down the track," he told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt said his analysis of a "tedious inevitability of constitutional change is wrong".

Northern Ireland has been without a fully-functioning government since February 2022 when the Democratic Unionist Party First Minister Paul Givan resigned as part of the party's protest against post-Brexit trading rules.

Lord Alderdice said in the absence of a Stormont Assembly, strand three of the Good Friday Agreement, which created co-operation between the British and Irish government in regard to Northern Ireland, could lead to some form of joint authority,

• What is the Good Friday Agreement?

• The day Stormont fell and London took control

• Stormont parties called to talks over power sharing

"The British government has a responsibility to all citizens of Northern Ireland to ensure good governance and that hasn't been happening over quite a period of time and it seems to be clear that there is not going to be a return to direct rule that we had in the past where the British government ran on its own affairs in Northern Ireland.

"If it remits to the British government, it will be done with some form of collaboration with the Irish government because of strand three of the Good Friday Agreement still exists and is still operational."

Following the recent council elections, Sinn Féin is now the largest party in local government as well as the assembly. It won a total of 144 seats - a rise of 39 on its 2019 showing.

Lord Alderdice said there were now three cohorts of people in Northern Ireland - a unionist one which is getting smaller, a nationalist one that is getting bigger and a third who do not regard themselves as either which is also growing.

Mr Nesbitt says Lord Alderdice's conclusion is poor

Former Ulster Unionist Party leader Mr Nesbitt said while Lord Alderdice was right to point out "that the traditional unionist voting base no longer yields a majority and that needs to be addressed", his conclusion was poor.

"I think unionists need to recognise we're not going to go back to 1801 act of union and I think nationalists have to realise neither are we going to deliver the vision of the 1916 proclamation."

The Northern Ireland Office said joint authority was not being considered.

"The UK government is absolutely clear that the consent principle governs the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. We will not countenance any arrangements that are inconsistent with that principle," a spokesperson added.