Stormont: SDLP says DUP must get to work or get out of the way

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) needs to get back to work at Stormont or "get out of the way", the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood will say later.

He will address his party's annual conference in Londonderry.

It comes days after MPs including those in the SDLP voted to back the Windsor Framework agreed by the UK and EU.

Mr Eastwood will accuse the DUP, which voted against the deal, of "digging its heels in".

He is expected to tell SDLP members that the choice facing the DUP is not about the Northern Ireland Protocol or framework, but whether they "can share power with their neighbours".

The SDLP leader who is also the MP for Foyle will make the speech in his constituency.

He is due to say that the DUP has "run out of excuses, run out of road and the public ran out of patience with them a long, long time ago".

Mr Eastwood is expected to reference the seven tests laid out by DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, which he said he would judge any deal against.

"There is only one test left - the test is whether we all roll up our sleeves, get back to work and try to help people who have been left without a government in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and the crisis in our NHS," he will add.

On Friday, the UK and EU formally ratified the Windsor Framework, saying it would allow both sides to start a "new chapter in relations".

The framework is designed to make trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK easier.

It gives the Stormont assembly more say over EU rules and has been welcomed by most Northern Ireland parties.

But the DUP voted against a key aspect of the deal on Wednesday and is still refusing to re-enter power-sharing, suggesting that the UK government still needs to make more changes.

Mr Eastwood will tell his conference that the DUP has not "come to terms with the fact that in a negotiation you don't get everything your own way".

You can watch the leader's speech live on the BBC News NI website and iPlayer from 15:00 GMT.