A senior member of the DUP has said it is time for the British Government to stop trying to put pressure on his party to go back into power sharing and to deliver on promises it has made.
Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris yesterday insisted that progress was being made in talks with the DUP. "We are closer to getting somewhere," he said.
"I'm now looking forward to receiving something very helpful from the Democratic Unionist Party in the not too distant future."
But the DUP's East Derry MP Gregory Campbell said in a statement this afternoon that it is "time for briefings on claims of progress towards removing the Irish Sea border to stop, and delivery to begin".
The party has repeatedly said its concerns over the Windsor Framework post-Brexit trading arrangements must be addressed before it will end its boycott of Stormont.
"Over the past few weeks Downing Street has been repeatedly briefing the media that significant or substantial progress has been made in order to achieve what they, and we, have said needs to be achieved; frictionless trade within the United Kingdom and the Irish Sea border removed," he said.
"For weeks back in the spring they claimed they were unsure of what precisely we wanted, despite being repeatedly told. This led to us providing the Government with a paper which they have been looking at for several months.
"The time has come for briefing designed to pressurise us to stop and delivery on what they have repeatedly promised, to happen."
Responding this afternoon, British junior Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker again said it is time for the party to go back into power sharing.
"It's in the DUP’s hands," he said.
"If they want Northern Ireland to flourish, they just need to go and govern Northern Ireland.
"At the moment, I have to tell you, we're waiting on the last bit of information from the DUP about what they want, and when they get it, we will strain every sinew to give it to them because we want them back."
A senior DUP source told RTÉ News that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s characterisation yesterday of the talks aimed at restoring devolution as progressing at "a snail’s pace" was an accurate assessment.
