A DUP minister viewed as a potential successor to Arlene Foster has pulled out of a scheduled north-south meeting with an Irish Government counterpart.
The move by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots, who is seen as more hardline than Mrs Foster, comes amid calls from some sections of unionism for the DUP to end participation in cross-border political structures while Brexit’s Irish Sea border remains in place.
Internal critics of Mrs Foster, many of whom have signed a letter of no confidence in her leadership, are pressing for the party to adopt a more robust approach in opposing the Northern Ireland Protocol, which governs the new post-Brexit trading arrangements.