Northern Ireland’s anti-LGBT leader refuses to leave despite losing 10 seats

CARE is speaking after Sinn Fein had its best ever Northern Ireland election result, coming in one seat behind the leading Democratic Unionist Party.

“The personalities as well as the politics are now poisonous”.

The election – the second in 10 months – was called after the collapse of a coalition led by Arlene Foster’s DUP and Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness.

The DUP now holds 28 of the 90 available seats in Stormont – but narrowly remains the largest party in the North.

The election has seen prominent DUP figures, such as former ministers Nelson McCausland and Maurice Morrow, lose their seats, and it is looking increasingly unlikely that the DUP will reach the 30 seats required to successfully lodge a Petition of Concern.

McGuinness called for Foster to stand down while a full investigation could take place, when she refused, he tendered his resignation calling the Democratic Unionist Party’s position “arrogant” and lacking in credibility.

Mr Brokenshire said responsibility lies on the shoulders of the DUP and Sinn Fein.

The botched heating scheme and post-Brexit border arrangements with the Republic of Ireland were the main focus of a televised final debate this week between party leaders. But it marked an important milestone: for the first time, Unionist control of the province appears to be slipping, and the idea of a united Ireland is edging towards the realm of the politically possible.

Sinn Fein trailed with 27.9pc, up four points.

“We cannot go into government with Arlene Foster as first or deputy first minister while there is a shadow hanging over her, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way forward”.

Sinn Fein, a party primarily supported by Catholic Irish nationalists, wants Northern Ireland to secede from the United Kingdom and become part of the Republic of Ireland.

At stake in the outcome from Thursday’s snap election is the revival or demise of power-sharing between Catholics and Protestants, a central objective of the Good Friday Agreement.

Instead the DUP took an enormous donation from an unusual and obscure English-based pressure group, with Mrs Foster embarrassingly admitting she was unaware of a figure which turned out to be an eye-catching £425,000.

“We’re up for going back into government but only on the basis of equality, respect and integrity”, she told AFP on Wednesday.

“Ourselves and Sinn Fein have to get over whatever problems we have and ensure that we can respond to the real needs of the public, particularly in terms of health, education and the other issues that really matter for the people of Northern Ireland”, he said.

“We need to learn the lesson and understand what people were saying in this election and what the key messages are”.