This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, has resigned from office in protest over his power-sharing partner’s handling of a bungled green energy scheme.

McGuinness’s resignation means a new Northern Ireland assembly election is inevitable.

Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire will update MPs about the situation on Tuesday.

Under the complex rules of power-sharing in the region, if either the first minister or the deputy resigns the coalition government between unionists and nationalists falls.



Northern Ireland executive heading for collapse as Martin McGuinness announces resignation - Politics live Read more

The former chief negotiator for Sinn Féin during the peace process, who admitted to being an IRA commander at the Bloody Sunday tribunal, said he was leaving the post because of a refusal by the first minister, Arlene Foster, to stand down temporarily from her job.

He said the party’s ruling central committee had agreed on the strategy on Sunday night. The decision followed calls from Sinn Féin’s president, Gerry Adams, for Foster to step down.

In his resignation letter, McGuinness said: “The first minister has refused to stand aside, without prejudice, pending a preliminary report from an investigation. That position is not credible or tenable.”

“It is with deep regret and reluctance that I am tendering my resignation as deputy first minister with effect from 5pm on Monday, 9th January 2017.”

Mark Devenport (@markdevenport) @M_McGuinness_SF letter page 1 pic.twitter.com/z1vlUgR0tF

Mark Devenport (@markdevenport) @M_McGuinness_SF letter page 2 pic.twitter.com/nrORvuVE1Z

Questions have been raised by opposition parties about the “cash for ash” scandal, which has an estimated cost to the taxpayer of at least £400m in lost revenue.

Foster has been under pressure to stand down for the duration of a proposed independent inquiry into the renewable heating initiative.



RHI offered huge and, its critics say, massively inflated financial incentives to farms, businesses and other non-domestic consumers to use biomass boilers that mostly burned wooden pellets, as well as solar thermal and heat pumps.



In February last year, a whistleblower alleged the scheme was being abused and that at least one farmer had made £1m from heating an empty shed with one boiler.



Foster survived a vote of no confidence in the assembly just before Christmas. She insisted earlier on Monday that she would not “blink first” over demands that she step down from the post even temporarily while the “cash for ash” affair is investigated.

The Democratic Unionist leader came out fighting on Monday morning after a weekend barrage of criticism, mainly from her party’s sole partner in the regional government, Sinn Féin.



In a message issued through her local Fermanagh newspaper, the Impartial Reporter, Foster dismissed threats from Sinn Féin that McGuinness might resign in protest if she refused to stand aside.



Foster said: “If [McGuinness] is playing a game of chicken, if Sinn Féin are playing a game of chicken and expecting me to blink in terms of stepping aside, they are wrong. If there is an election, there is an election and we will be ready for that election as the DUP always are. For clarity, I will not be stepping aside. I will take my direction from the electorate, certainly not Sinn Féin.”

McGuinness later bitterly criticised the DUP’s handling of the RHI crisis. In his resignation statement, he wrote: “The DUP’s handling of this issue has been completely out of step with the public mood, which is rightly outraged at the squandering of public money and the allegations of misconduct and corruption.

“The public are demanding robust action and accountability but the DUP, in particular Arlene Foster, have refused to accept this.”



He added: “We now need an election to allow people to make their own judgment on these issues democratically at the ballot box.”

At five o’clock, McGuinness’s tenure as deputy first minister ended.

Before his resignation, there had been questions over McGuinness’s health, particularly after he was deemed too unwell to join a Northern Ireland government trade mission to China in December.



In response to the latest political crisis in power sharing, Northern Ireland secretary, James Brokenshire, said on Monday night: “The UK government has a primary role in providing political stability in Northern Ireland, and we will do all that we can to help the parties find a resolution in the coming days.

“There is a clear process set out regarding what happens next. Unless Sinn Féin nominates a replacement to the position of deputy first minister within the next seven days, it is incumbent upon me to call an assembly election within a reasonable period.

“I would urge Northern Ireland’s political leaders to take the necessary steps to work together to find a way forward and I will work with all parties and the Irish government to this end.”

Mike Nesbitt, the leader of the Ulster Unionist party, which sits on the opposition benches in the Stormont regional parliament, said that McGuinness’s resignation had scuppered the chance of a public inquiry into the RHI debacle and in effect let Foster and the DUP off the hook.

Meanwhile, the leader of the smaller nationalist Social Democratic and Labour party, Colum Eastwood, pledged that a full public inquiry would be its number one priority in a new assembly after the elections.



“The public understand that there is one reason for this potential election – Arlene Foster’s arrogance,” Eastwood said.

Nesbitt said: “This is not the way to resolve the RHI scandal. Sinn Féin should have stayed, to hold the first minister to account, to force a public inquiry and to vote on the much-needed cost controls on the scheme.

“Instead, they have prioritised self-interest, as always. This is Sinn Féin letting the DUP off the hook. The public mood clearly indicates they want the facts of the RHI debacle exposed. To move straight to an election without this taking place is farcical. They had a choice between the integrity of the institutions and electoral advantage and they appear to have chosen the latter.“

The Northern Ireland assembly was due to meet after the Christmas recess next Monday. It is expected that the regional devolved parliament will now ratify moves to dissolve the DUP-Sinn Féin power-sharing executive and the assembly, leading to an election within an expected timeframe of about six weeks.