Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has met Northern Ireland political leaders amid the ongoing political impasse at Stormont.
Mr Sunak held informal talks with senior representatives of the main parties at a hotel near Belfast at the start of his first visit to the region as Prime Minister.
He met all the parties in the same room and spoke to them separately for around 10 to 15 minutes each.
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Devolution has been in flux since February when the DUP withdrew its first minister from the ministerial executive in protest at Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Talks between the UK and EU to resolve the impasse over the contentious trading arrangements are continuing with both sides continuing to insist a deal is possible. The DUP has insisted it will not allow a return to powersharing until radical changes to the protocol are delivered.
The region's largest unionist party has blocked the formation of a new administration following May's Assembly election and prevented the Assembly meeting to conduct legislative business as part of its protest over the protocol.
It claims the protocol has undermined Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom by creating economic barriers on trade entering the region from Great Britain.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was among those who took part in Thursday night's talks. Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O'Neill, who is in line to become first minister of Northern Ireland if devolution is restored, was also present.
Afterwards, Ms O'Neill said: "I was able to put it to him directly that what we need to see is a deal on the protocol, we need to find an agreed way forward, to work with the EU and to get that done speedily because that is the obstacle as we speak in terms of restoring the executive."
Earlier the local political leaders met with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris for cross-party talks in Belfast. One key issue that featured in the discussions in Belfast on Thursday morning was the continued uncertainty over when £600 Treasury-funded energy support payments will be rolled out to householders in Northern Ireland.
Speaking after the meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey said: "We covered a wide range of issues, including the ongoing negotiations between the UK Government and the European Union. There's very little to report on that. We want to see progress made, we want to see a ramping up of these talks, to try and get to a solution."
Last week, Mr Heaton-Harris cut the pay of MLAs by 27.5% to reflect the fact they are not doing their jobs as legislators. If a new executive is not formed by January 19, the Government assumes a legal responsibility to call a snap Assembly election by April 13.
On Thursday, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly held face-to-face talks with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic in Brussels to discuss the protocol deadlock.
The meeting at the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast took place as nurses across Northern Ireland held a strike over pay and conditions. A similar strike by the Royal College of Nursing in the region in late 2019 was seen as a factor in securing a return to powersharing after a previous political impasse at Stormont.
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