N Ireland parties revive power-sharing talks after UK vote

Northern Ireland's squabbling parties met Monday in the hope of reviving their power-sharing regional government after three years, with the UK election having cleared the path to Brexit.

The politically and socially volatile province has been without an administration since January 2017.

The power-sharing executive between the pro-British, conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and left-wing Irish republicans Sinn Fein crumbled in a breakdown of trust following a misspending scandal.

But the United Kingdom's impending exit from the European Union has given the parties new impetus to find common ground.

Thursday's general election returned a majority Conservative government, paving the way for the UK to leave the EU on January 31.

Brexit's implications for Northern Ireland and the border with the Irish Republic, an EU member state, have been the most contentious part of the departure process.

The Brexit deal agreed between London and Brussels would see Northern Ireland diverge from mainland Britain and retain some EU rules, subject to four-yearly approval of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

"The election has changed things very dramatically," Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald told BBC radio.

The UK election in 2017 stripped then-prime minister Theresa May of her majority in the British parliament, forcing her into an alliance with the DUP.

The DUP kingmakers wielded an outsized influence in London during the intense Brexit negotiations.

But the party lost that role in Thursday's election which Prime Minister Boris Johnson a thumping majority.

"I hope now that their attention can come back home and that we can together lift what needs to be lifted," said McDonald.

"The fact that the British government is identifying the restoration of government in the North as a key priority, I hope they're true to that."