(Belfast) Gene Simmons of US hard rock band Kiss on Thursday called on Northern Irish MPs to end the lockdown of institutions in the British province, an unlikely move by the US-Israeli bassist visiting the UK United.

Gene Simmons, 73, said it was “important” that the functioning of institutions resume.

“It’s the government’s job to meet people’s needs. So hopefully everything will be back to normal in Northern Ireland,” Mr Simmons told the BBC.

Gene Simmons was in London where he visited the British Parliament, at the invitation of a Northern Irish Unionist MP.

Opposed to the trade rules imposed after Brexit, which it believes threaten the province’s ties with the rest of the United Kingdom, the unionist party DUP has been boycotting local institutions for more than a year, leading to a political deadlock.

Gene Simmons said his visit to Westminster was “incredible”. He is in the UK as part of the European leg of the End Of the Road tour.