No new Stormont Assembly election before Christmas, Northern Ireland Secretary announces

PA Wire

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has announced he will not call a fresh Stormont Assembly election in December.

He said that no election would “take place in December, or ahead of the festive season”.

Mr Heaton-Harris added that he had listened to people’s “sincere concerns about the impact and cost of an election at this time.”

The deadline passed last week for forming a power-sharing government after elections took place in May.

At the time, Mr Heaton-Harris had said that he was legally obliged to call new elections within 12 weeks. However he has now backtracked on these plans.

The main parties in Northern Ireland had said that they did not expect a new election to solve the impass in creating a power-sharing government.

The leaders of the Stormont parties met Mr Heaton-Harris on Tuesday. The Northern Ireland government has not functioned properly since February.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said he will not call an election in December (PA)

The Democratic Unionist Party has refused to return to Stormount until the Northern Ireland protocol is changed or scrapped.

In a written statement, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “At midnight on 28 October, I came under a duty to call an Assembly election.

“Since then, my engagement with the political parties has continued. I have had valuable conversations with people across Northern Ireland, including business and community representatives. I have listened to their sincere concerns about the impact and cost of an election at this time.

Foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney speaks to the media at the Irish Government Secretariat in Belfast after meeting Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris to discuss the ongoing political crisis at Stormont (PA)

“I can now confirm that no Assembly election will take place in December, or ahead of the festive season. Current legislation requires me to name a date for an election to take place within 12 weeks of 28 October and next week, I will make a statement in Parliament to lay out my next steps.

“My objective, what the people of Northern Ireland deserve, is the restoration of a strong devolved government. My duty is to create the right environment for the parties in Northern Ireland to work together to restore the devolved institutions and deliver on crucial issues impacting Northern Ireland’s people.

“I do not take this duty lightly, nor do I overlook the very real concerns people have around their cost of living.”