There is still “no clarity” over whether Northern Ireland will have a pre-Christmas election, the four largest political parties said following meetings with the Northern Ireland Secretary on Tuesday.
Chris Heaton-Harris held separate discussions with Sinn Féin, the DUP, Alliance and the UUP in Belfast. He is due to meet the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, on Wednesday.
On Friday the Northern Secretary did not name a date for a fresh Assembly election after the deadline for restoring the North’s political institutions was missed, despite having said repeatedly he would do so.
In a statement issued following Tuesday’s meetings Mr Heaton-Harris said he had “expressed how disappointed I am that under current legislation the legal duty now falls on me to call an election” and said he would “provide a further update on next steps in due course”.
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Legally Mr Heaton-Harris is obliged to call an election which must take place no later than January 20th, though if a poll is to take place before Christmas – the Electoral Office is planning for a vote on December 15th – he must make the announcement by November 8th.
Northern Ireland has been without an Assembly since the last election in May, when the DUP refused to re-enter the North’s powersharing institutions until its demands over the Northern Ireland protocol, which it opposes, are met.
Speaking to reporters following Sinn Féin’s meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris, its vice-president Michelle O’Neill said he had given “no clarity, he provided no further information as to the U-turn” and she was “none the wiser” as to whether he intends to call an election.
“He did not colour in the lines today. He certainly did not provide any clarity around what he intends to do next, apart from to say that he’s here to meet with people,” she said.
Ms O’Neill accused him of “pandering to the DUP” and said Mr Heaton-Harris “didn’t say what his next move was, but you can’t escape the reality that there’s a legal obligation on him to call the election”. “Instead, he’s created a political vacuum,” she said.
Following his party’s meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris, the DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said situation was that “we simply don’t know, the Secretary of State has not told us when he is going to call an election”.
He said he had received “no indication” from London that an agreement with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol was “close or imminent” and he called on the UK government to “have a razor-sharp focus on these negotiations. Let’s make progress. Let’s get this done,” he said.
The Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Tuesday that if a deal could be reached between the EU and UK this could lead to the restoration of the Northern institutions.
“We have to ensure that the discussions between the European Union and the United Kingdom can continue which they will, and objectively, if we could get a result on that front, then there may be opportunities in terms of the Assembly and the Executive,” he said.
Mr Martin again urged the restoration of the North’s Assembly and Executive, saying it was “essential” and the DUP should go back into the powersharing government. “It is a denial of democracy not to do so,” he said.
“It is imperative on all political parties to make the institutions work and it can’t be an option to close down the Executive and the Assembly because you may have a disagreement with a political position.”
The Alliance leader Naomi Long said her meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris was “constructive” and she welcomed that he had “listened to what’s been said by the people of Northern Ireland, that he has paid attention to the issues that have been raised and he is clearly taking time to reflect on the way forward”.
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The time to call an election, she said, would be “if we are close to a position where there may be a deal [between the EU and the UK], that would be the moment to hold people’s feet to the fire about reforming an Executive and call an election if they refuse to do so.
“It seems that now it might be slightly premature and we could end up actually making any deal more difficult to achieve and more difficult to sell into the Northern Ireland public,” she said.
Doug Beattie, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said the Northern Secretary had “no plan on how to proceed” and it was “really difficult to see how we broker anything unless we have some form of a pathway to deal with the issues that are put in front of us”.
He said it was “quite clear” the Northern Ireland protocol was the issue and the North was now a “football” between the UK and EU which was “reliant” on them to “come up with some sort of a deal”.
“We don’t know where they are, we don’t know if they’re close to a deal and we don’t even know if there are any heads of agreement to a deal, so it’s difficult to see where we are heading,” he said.
“But if the plan is to have an election, it’s just nonsensical.”
During his meetings with the parties Mr Heaton-Harris also discussed Stormont’s budget and Assembly members’ pay and said he would consider taking action to cut salaries if the Executive is not reformed.
“There are important issues of government to be dealt with due to the absence of ministers,” the Northern Secretary said.
“I am particularly worried that the Executive has an enormous black hole in its budget, which potentially has serious implications for the delivery of many of Northern Ireland’s public services.
“Measures to set a budget will be required in the short term,” he said.
Additional reporting –PA.
