DUP will not announce First Minister nomination today

By Q Radio News

The DUP is not expected to reveal who it is nominating to succeed Arlene Foster as First Minister today. 

A DUP source has said that the new leader, Edwin Poots, will not be making an official announcement on the nomination. 

A DUP source has said Edwin Poots is not likely to announce his nomination for First Minister todayhttps://t.co/DkiBsKql4p

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) June 1, 2021

Political pundit Prof Jon Tonge thinks the decision to split the roles of party leader and First Minister is a bad one.  

He said: "I think that fragments the party somewhat - I don’t think that will help Edwin Poots but the direction of travel for the DUP is pretty clear. 

"There’s going to be a very robust form of unionism. 

"People will emphasise the social conservatism -but what really matters is how he is going to firstly defend the union and secondly deal with the protocol."

As soon as the DUP announce their nomination, Sinn Féin has seven days to endorse the candidate.

Failure to do so would force the Northern Ireland secretary to call an election within a "reasonable" time period.

Politicians from Sinn Féin are expected to try and use the period to get firm commitments from the DUP over Irish language legislation and other proposals laid out in the New Decade, New Approach deal - the 2020 agreement which ended the three-year hiatus of the Northern Irish executive. 

(Mr Poots is expected to announce who they are nominating to replace Arlene Foster as First Minister will be later today)