SIR Keir Starmer has arrived in Belfast to meet political leaders amid deepening tensions over the UK Government’s threat to override the North Ireland protocol.

The UK Labour leader visited Stormont to meet  Alliance leader Naomi Long, SDLP chief Colum Eastwood and acting Stormont speaker Alan Chambers.

He held meetings with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and UUP head Doug Beattie in London this week and met Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald  last night in Belfast.

SIr Keir is also expected to meet US consul general Paul Narain and go on a walkabout in Belfast, where he worked as a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board between 2003 and 2007.

Visiting with shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle, Sir Keir is expected to call for compromise and negotiation to end the political deadlock at the NI Assembly.

The DUP’s refusal to nominate a deputy First Minister to Sinn Fein’s First Minister has blocked the return of the power sharing executive since May’s election.

Sir Keir is also expected to discuss the Northern Ireland Protocol, the post-brexit trading arrangement which is seen by Unionists as a threat to the UK, as it aligns the province with EU rules on goods, with a trade border down the North Sea between NI and Great Britain.

The UK Government is due to publish controversial legislation on Monday intended to override the protocol unless the EU agrees to change it.

Critics say the proposed legislation may be illegal under international law, with the Irish taoiseach Michael Martin saying it could lead to a “historic low” in EU-UK relations.

There are also fears unilateral action by the UK could spark a trade war with the EU, harming the UK economy when it is already struggling with rampant inflation.

After meeting Sir Keir, Ms Long said: “The issues with the protocol really do not justify the egregious breach of international law and international trust that the Government are now embarking on via legislation basically at the behest of the DUP.

“If the Government wants to take some legislation forward so that these institutions here can be restored and that they can do that on a stable footing, they should be looking to reform these institutions in legislation to ensure that no party can hold the institutions to ransom.”

She added: “We believe it is crucial that these institutions are reformed, the public have had enough of stop-start government, they have had enough of the cycle of crisis and collapse and we need to put paid to that by changing our institutions to make them fit for purpose.”

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “It’s actually quite refreshing to see have Keir here, in Dublin yesterday and Stormont today, actually having a grown-up in leadership in London engaging properly with political parties here and with the Irish government.

“It’s what’s been missing, frankly, from this British government over the past number of years. What we’ve seen from Boris Johnson has been unilateral action on legacy.

“Now, on Monday, we’re going to see unilateral action on the protocol, having had no conversations with parties here, no conversations with the Irish government, and just taking a wrecking ball to the progress that we’ve had.

“We saw a glimpse over the past couple of days of what Anglo-Irish relationships could be like. It isn’t impossible to have proper relationships, it isn’t impossible to deal with the problems that we face in issues of the past or issues around the protocol.

“All of those things can be dealt with by grown-ups sitting down in a room and having a conversation. If we haven’t learned that over the last 20 years, then I don’t know what we’ve been watching.”

Sir Keir yesterday accused Boris Johnson of taking a “wrecking ball” to UK relationships with Ireland and the EU with the legislation.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill also warned the UK Government against unilateral moves to override the protocol in an address to party members in Belfast.

She said: “Boris Johnson knows that to gamble the protocol is to breach international law and to jeopardise the British Government’s agreement with the EU on their withdrawal and future trading relationship, with colossal political and economic impact.

“The threat of unilateral action by the Tories to legislate and breach international law serves nobody’s interests, anywhere, at any time.”

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told a party meeting in Kilkeel, Co Down there was a “unity of purpose within unionism in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol”.

He added: “Even opinion polls show that the vast majority of unionists support our stance that the protocol must be resolved before devolution can be restored.”

Former Tory Northern Ireland minister Robin Walker said he had “deep concerns” about the protocol when in the role but said the UK Government wanted “reasonable” changes to.

Mr Walker, who served in the post from February 2020 until September 2021 and is now a schools minister, told LBC Radio: “I had, consistently during my time as Northern Ireland minister, deep concerns about some of the inner workings of the protocol.

“And the frustration here is that there was always supposed to be a process to address these through the committee system that was set up with the UK and the EU.

“Those meetings have taken place but we simply have not seen the movement that would actually address the genuine issues that people in Northern Ireland are facing with the workings of the protocol.

“So I think it’s right that the Government has to look at all tools at its disposal within the law to make sure it can deliver on what we all see is the protection of the Good Friday Agreement, the protection of the way of life of people in Northern Ireland that allows them to identify as British or Irish or both, and the protection within that of the United Kingdom.”

He added that ministers are “right” to continue discussions with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol, and he is “confident” that future proposals by the Government on amendments for it will be “reasonable”.