The Know Daily - Tuesday 30 January 2024

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With the help of volunteers, the National Trust is planting more than 100,000 trees across north Devon to boost the region’s temperate rainforests. These are some of the UK’s “most magical but endangered environments”, according to The Guardian, and home to a unique variety of flora and fauna.

🤝 DUP deal

The Democratic Unionist Party has agreed a deal to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland, subject to UK government legislation.

What’s the story?
In the early hours of this morning, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson announced that his party would end its boycott of the Stormont assembly after nearly two years. 

The announcement followed a “fraught five hour meeting” of the party’s executive, said The Guardian, and comes after “months of tortuous negotiations” between the UK government and the DUP. 

What was behind the DUP boycott?
The power-sharing model - devised as part of the Good Friday Agreement - requires the Stormont executive to be made up of representatives from both nationalist and unionist parties.

But in February 2022, the DUP collapsed the government in protest at post-Brexit trade arrangements that have “created trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, explained Sky News.

So what’s changed?
For months now, talks have been taking place between the DUP and UK government over these trade rules. Donaldson said the deal agreed with Westminster would “remove checks on goods moving within the UK and remaining in Northern Ireland”.

Why is this a big deal? 
The DUP’s boycott has meant that Stormont has not been able to operate - delaying important legislation and leaving officials “unable to make vital decisions on changes to public spending”, said The Guardian.

In December, the UK government offered a £3.3bn financial package to fund public services, but said it was conditional on the DUP returning to Stormont.

What happens now?
The specific details of the deal “have yet to be published”, noted the BBC, but Donaldson said he believed Westminster could move “quickly” to bring forward the agreed legislation. 

If power-sharing is restored, Irish republican party Sinn Féin - the largest party in the most recent election - is in line to take the first minister position for the first time.