Edwin Poots resignation has DUP looking for third leader this summer

Mr. Poots tendered his resignation within hours of Paul Givan's nomination as First Minister and after the British Government said it would bring forward Irish language legislation.

The outgoing DUP leader officially took on the role when Arlene Foster stood down at the start of the week.

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The party has been riven as a result of the Irish Protocol which critics, including Sinn Féin and the SDLP, say was an inevitable consequence of the DUP's hard Brexit policy.

Tonight Mr. Poots said: “I have asked the Party Chairman to commence an electoral process within the Party to allow for a new leader of the DUP to be elected."

The Lagan Valley MLA will remain in post until another DUP leader, the third in the space of a few weeks, is selected.

Edwin Poots is the new leader of the DUP"This has been a difficult period for the Party and the country and I have conveyed to the Chairman my determination to do everything I can to ensure both Unionism and Northern Ireland is able to move forward to a stronger place," said Mr. Poots.