Northern Ireland DUP leader resigns amid party revolt

Belfast, June 18 Edwin Poots announced his resignation as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland after less than a month in the post amid an internal revolt.

His resignation on Thursday came after a meeting of party officers in Belfast amid the internal revolt over the nomination of Paul Givan as Northern Ireland's First Minister, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I have asked the Party Chairman to commence an electoral process within the Party to allow for a new leader of the Democratic Unionist Party to be elected," Poots said in a statement on Thursday evening.

"The Party has asked me to remain in post until my successor is elected. 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," he said.

Poots was elected leader of the DUP, a pro-British political party, in May and is reportedly seen by some commentators as more aggressive in his opposition to Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trade barriers.

The latest development came amid a bitter row between the European Union (EU) and the UK over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It states that food products from Britain to the EU will have to enter through new border control posts at Northern Ireland's ports.

Northern Ireland will continue to apply EU customs rules at its ports, to allow goods to flow into the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU.

This is known as the Irish Sea border, a new trade border between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK, which has angered unionists.