• Assembly members have met in response to a recall petition.
• The SDLP called for a debate on the cost of living crisis.
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• Unionist parties reject it, claiming that it weakens Northern Ireland’s standing in the UK.

A third attempt to elect a new Speaker at Stormont and reopen the Northern Ireland Assembly has failed.

Assembly members convened in response to a recall petition coordinated by the SDLP, which called for a debate on the cost of living crisis.

Because of concerns with the Northern Ireland Protocol, the DUP refuses to designate a Speaker.

Recalling the assembly, according to the DUP leader, would not fix the matter.

However, the SDLP stated that “fundamental government” must be restored.

Northern Ireland remains in the EU’s single market for goods, averting a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

However, it implies that some commodities coming into Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK will be subject to checks, creating a trade border in the Irish Sea.

Unionist parties reject it, claiming that it weakens Northern Ireland’s standing in the UK.

Controversial UK government legislation aiming at providing the government the authority to veto portions of the Protocol is making its way through Parliament.

Doug Beattie of the Ulster Unionist Party proposed party colleague Mike Nesbitt as Speaker, while Matthew O’Toole of the SDLP nominated his colleague Patsy McGlone.

However, both offers were rejected.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shailesh Vara expressed disappointment that the assembly had not elected a speaker.

He on his Twitter handle said that “People expect and deserve the Executive to be formed as soon as possible to address issues affecting everyone in Northern Ireland, including the rising cost of living.”

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O’Neill said the DUP’s “continued his boycott of these institutions and their failure to accept the democratic outcome of the election” were denying people “the representation which they are entitled to and which they deserve”.

“It’s totally unacceptable, it is untenable and it cannot continue,” she added.

She said the DUP was the “only party that are blocking and preventing the executive being formed, preventing the executive meeting that would allow us to distribute money to help workers and families”.

“So let me say to you, even at this late hour today, workers need help, families need help, businesses need help and you’re continuing to punish the public that we’re elected to serve by your continued refusal to govern with the rest of us.”

Assemblymember Brian Kingston of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) called the recall “stunt politics.”

“These proceedings are not a genuine attempt by the parties opposite to restore the political institutions, rather they demonstrate a wilful disregard for the views of unionists and the principle of power sharing itself in Northern Ireland,” he said.

The Northern Ireland Protocol, according to Mr. Kingston, has caused a “deep rift in our politics.”

He stated that the party would be “condition-led rather than calendar-led.”

At the same time, he made it plain that the DUP would be willing to propose a deputy first minister if its demands were met.

Stormont institutions have been in upheaval since February, when the DUP resigned as first minister in protest at the protocol, a component of the 2019 Brexit deal.