Robinson hoping Carla Lockhart will not quit DUP role

DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said he hopes Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart will not quit the party over its stance on the Drumcree parading controversy.

Mr Robinson addressed mounting speculation that Ms Lockhart is considering walking away from the DUP amid a dispute with the leadership on the future of the Stormont Executive.

The MP has called on her party to withdraw its deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly from her office, a move that would automatically force Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O'Neill from her role.

Ms Lockhart argues Ms O'Neill can no longer serve as First Minister due to her participation in an allegedly unlawful protest against the Orange Order Drumcree parade in Portadown last month.

Ms O'Neill and several of her party colleagues are being investigated by police for taking part in the protest on the Garvaghy Road that was staged to prevent the parade proceeding through the predominantly nationalist area.

The DUP has stopped short of pulling Ms Little-Pengelly out of her role but yesterday announced she would no longer participate in joint engagements with Ms O'Neill.

Mr Robinson said Ms Little-Pengelly will also not be giving permission for Ms O'Neill to fulfil engagements on her own in the role of First Minister.

The practical outworking of the move means Ms O'Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly did not travel to an economic event in Glasgow today.

Stormont's leaders were scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Scottish First Minister John Swinney and Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth.

Ms O'Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly were also due to hold a separate meeting with Mr Burnham in Glasgow to discuss the ongoing impasse over the lack of Stormont budget for the current financial year.

Ms Lockhart, who quit as a member of the DUP's main strategy making body last week over the issue, published an open letter to party colleagues in response to the latest move, insisting there was no option but to remove Ms O'Neill from office.

She said there should be no "clever halfway house" to "gaslight those who have trusted us".

The MP warned she could "no longer be party to that", vowing to "take my own course, stand on my own principles and bear whatever personal cost comes with that".

Need for 'political sanction' for Michelle O'Neill - Robinson

This morning, Mr Robinson was asked whether he expected Ms Lockhart to quit the DUP.

"Well, I hope that’s not the case," he told BBC Radio Ulster.

"I mean all of us share the same anger toward Michelle O'Neill. All of us want to see political sanction.

"We all share the same view that there needs to be political sanction for the behaviour of Michelle O'Neill. We share the same sentiment."

Mr Robinson said his party was pressing the UK Government to bring forward legislation that would introduce more robust sanctions for Stormont ministers who breach their pledge of office to uphold the rule of law.

He said he would not criticise Ms Lockhart.

"I understand entirely the position that she has, and I don't want to see her go," he said.

"She is a colleague, but the fundamental position of the Democratic Unionist Party has been decided."

The DUP blocking strategy will prevent a planned meeting between Ms O'Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly and Irish President Catherine Connolly at her official residence at Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin.

Ms O'Neill will also not be able to attend Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph in Belfast as First Minister.

Noting the absence of Stormont's leaders from Friday’s economic event in Scotland, Sinn Féin MP Chris Hassard accused the DUP of engaging in a "pathetic, petulant and damaging stunt".

He told Radio Ulster: "It's not damaging to Michelle O'Neill or Sinn Féin - it harms our local businesses, it harms our workers looking for better jobs, and it frustrates families crying out for investment in public services.

"The British Prime Minister is in that room, the First Minister of Scotland is in that room, the First Minister of Wales is in that room. Yet the north’s chair is empty and has been sacrificed to reckless economic vandalism."

He said the move was "driven entirely" by DUP concerns over the outcome of next year's Assembly election.

Withdrawing Ms Little-Pengelly from her post would automatically force Ms O'Neill from office due to the joint nature of the power-sharing structures in Northern Ireland.

Such a step would effectively collapse the devolved administration in Belfast as the Executive could no longer meet to make significant decisions.

However, individual departmental ministers would remain in post for up to six months and the Northern Ireland Assembly could continue to sit.

The furore is playing out amid the customary political manoeuvring that takes place at Stormont ahead of an Assembly election. The next poll is currently due to be held in May.

A decision by the Parades Commission adjudication body to allow the Orange Order to parade down the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years prompted a two-week stand-off at the site of what was a notorious parading flashpoint during the Troubles.

The parade was ultimately unable to take place because of significant numbers of protesters on the Garvaghy Road, leading Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant to overturn the commission's decision and ban the procession. His decision was upheld by a High Court judge on Wednesday.

Under parading laws in Northern Ireland, protests must be notified to, and approved by, the Parades Commission.

Police investigating the unnotified Garvaghy Road protest, which was staged on the day the Drumcree parade was meant to proceed on 27 September, have said invitations to attend interviews were sent to individuals "reasonably suspected of committing offences".

Sinn Féin TDs Pearse Doherty and Matt Carthy were the latest party representatives to attend for voluntary interview with the police in Belfast yesterday.