NEWLY appointed Stormont First Minister Paul Givan has been told he will be expected to resign as part of the DUP leadership transition.
Party officers do not want to see Givan leave his post as joint head of the devolved executive before the next leader is in place and ready to appoint a successor.
A departure prior to that would add further instability to the already fragile powersharing institutions, as it would set the clock ticking on a seven-day deadline to nominate both a new First Minister and renominate Michelle O’Neill as Sinn Fein’s deputy First Minister.
If that deadline is missed, the UK Government would be under a legal obligation to call a snap election at the Assembly.
The current frontrunner for the DUP leadership is Lagan Valley MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.
READ MORE: MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson likely to suceed Edwin Poots as DUP leader
It is understood party officers have had a number of discussions with Givan about his future in the wake of Thursday night’s dramatic resignation of party leader Edwin Poots (below), who is his long-time friend and constituency colleague.
The DUP is craving stability after a turbulent two months that has seen former leader Arlene Foster resign after an internal heave against her and Poots follow suit after he was also fatally weakened by a party revolt.
His resignation on Thursday night came after just three weeks in the post.
It was prompted by his decision to press ahead with reconstituting the Stormont Executive alongside Sinn Fein, despite a significant majority of his MPs and MLAs being vociferously opposed to the move.
Anger at a UK Government pledge to grant Sinn Fein a key concession on Irish language laws was behind the internal opposition to Poots’ decision to nominate a First Minister to lead the administration alongside the republican party.
Sir Jeffrey narrowly lost to Poots in last month’s DUP leadership contest to replace Foster.
Chastened by that bruising campaign, the party hierarchy’s preference is for an uncontested appointment this time around, though it remains to be seen whether Sir Jeffrey, if he does run, will face any challengers.
During the last campaign, Sir Jeffrey vowed to quit as an MP in Westminster to return to the Assembly and take up the role of First Minister.
If that were to happen, it would mean a Westminster by-election in Lagan Valley, a seat held by Sir Jeffrey since 1997.
One possibility is that he could seek to replace Foster as the MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone when she steps down.
However, with the DUP currently in such turmoil there are doubts whether the party would want to voluntarily trigger a by-election in Lagan Valley any time soon.
Another option could see Sir Jeffrey wait until just before the next Assembly election, scheduled in May 2022, before he resigns his parliamentary seat.
READ MORE: Edwin Poots resigns as DUP leader after just 21 days in role
In that scenario, he might appoint a temporary First Minister to fill the role in the interim.
On Friday, deputy First Minister O’Neill said she remained committed to working with Givan for as long as he remained in the role of First Minister.
She urged her partners in government to “get their act together” to ensure effective governance at Stormont.
Elsewhere, a rally against Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol in Newtownards on Friday heard calls for the DUP not to nominate a new First Minister until the contentious Irish Sea trading arrangements are abandoned.
Several hundred people turned out at the protest rally, where the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, Jim Allister, launched a stinging attack on Poots and called on the DUP to effectively collapse Stormont unless the Protocol is abandoned.
He told the crowd: “What needs to be done in Stormont is the new DUP leader needs to find a backbone, and he needs to resign the First Minister.
“He needs to say to the British Prime Minister, there will be no First Minister so long as there is a Protocol.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel