DUP Leader Says Deal To Restore Northern Ireland Power Sharing Shows "Real Change" But Battle Isn't Over

Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has insisted that his deal with the UK Government to restore power sharing can "sell itself" as the DUP remains on course to rejoin the region's political institutions in the coming days.

While several DUP MPs expressed concerns about thenewdeal in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, they are expected to ultimately rally behind Donaldson and allow him to take the unionist party back into Stormont — bringing the DUP's two-year, post-Brexit protest to an end.

Speaking at a press conference in Hillsborough Castle, Belfast on Wednesday, Donaldson admitted that the deal agreed with the UK Government was not perfect.

"I won't claim that every battle has been won or that every battle has been finished," said the MP for Lagan Valley in a joint press conference with Chris Heaton Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

However, the DUP leader argued that the agreement represented "real change" which surpasses what hardline unionist critics of his approach to talks with ministers in Westminster claimed he would achieve. 

"I know that on the basis of delivery of all the elements of this agreement, we are taking the right steps.

"It is almost two years since we withdrew the first minister as a consequence of the imposition of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which did not have the support from the elected representatives of unionists in Northern Ireland.

"This agreement represents the very significant progress on all the issues that we advanced in our negotiations."

Earlier in the day, several DUP MPs who are more opposed to the move to return to Stormont expressed dissatisfaction with the deal during a House of Commons debate.

Sammy Wilson, the DUP MP for East Antrim,