Legislation is to be introduced on Monday which will cut Assembly members’ salaries and keep Northern Ireland’s public services running in the continued absence of a devolved government.
The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Bill will also extend the deadline for the formation of an Executive and will provide the legal basis for the extension already announced by the Northern Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, who earlier this month ruled out an Assembly election before Christmas. It followed the failure by the political parties to re-establish the Assembly and Executive by the deadline of October 28th, after which Mr Heaton-Harris came under a legal duty to call a fresh election – a commitment which he had said he would follow through on at “one minute past midnight”.
Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government since May, when the DUP refused to re-enter the powersharing institutions. It insists it will not return to government until its concerns over the Northern Ireland protocol are addressed.
The legislation will confirm in law a fresh deadline of December 8th for the restoration of the institutions, with the option of a further six-week extension until January 19th.
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If the impasse has not been resolved by then, the Northern Secretary will again fall under a legal obligation to call an election, to be held by April 13th at the latest.
Talks are continuing between the EU and UK over the protocol. Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney struck an optimistic tone on Saturday, saying he hoped there could be “very significant progress” by the end of the year, but Britain’s foreign secretary James Cleverly has been less positive, warning last week that “big gaps” remain between the two positions.
The Bill is expected to take “limited but necessary steps” to maintain the delivery of public services in the North and will clarify the restricted decision-making powers of the Northern Ireland civil service in the absence of ministers. It will permit the Northern Secretary to reduce MLAs’ salaries by approximately a third while the Assembly is unable to conduct business.
It will also enable a small number of key public service appointments to be made and the regional rate for 2023/24 to be set, should an Executive not be in place to do so.
Speaking in advance of the Bill’s introduction, Mr Heaton-Harris urged the political parties to “use this extended time to come together and deliver for the interests of all people in Northern Ireland, particularly in this time of rising costs”.
“At present, MLAs are not in a position to fulfil the full range of their duties, so it is right that we take steps to reduce their salaries, especially in the current economic climate and in view of the £660 million (€760m) black hole in the public finances created by poor decisions made by outgoing ministers.
“Furthermore, Northern Ireland’s people are being denied full democratic representation,” he said. “The government’s priority is to see politicians elected to return to fulfil their roles in a strong, devolved and locally accountable government, as laid out by the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.”
