Northern Ireland's McGuinness to resign over political crisis

FILE PHOTO - Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness pauses before speaking to media at Stormont Castle as he arrives to greet Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos who is on a state visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's deputy leader, Martin McGuinness, resigned on Monday in protest at First Minister Arlene Foster's handling of a controversial green-energy scheme, a move likely to trigger an election in the British province.

The collapse of the relationship between Irish nationalist leader McGuinness and Foster, a pro-British unionist, risks paralysing the region's response to Britain's planned exit from the European Union as London prepares to trigger divorce talks.