Decision not to hold December election in North receives broad cross-party welcome

Politicians in Northern Ireland made further calls for clarity on Friday following the announcement the North would avoid a pre-Christmas election.

The North’s Electoral Office, which had been working towards an election date of December 15th, confirmed on Friday that election planning had been halted.

Local parties and the Irish Government welcomed the statement from the Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris that he would not call a December poll but emphasised the need for the restoration of the Northern Assembly and Executive.

Sinn Féin’s vice-president and the North’s first minister designate, Michelle O’Neill, said Mr Heaton-Harris must “outline now exactly what the British government intends to do to restore the political institutions”.

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She said he had “confirmed the bizarre U-turn he made last week, but once again he provides no clarity or certainty on what his next steps even are”.

“The British government and the DUP are leaving us in a prolonged state of political limbo with no Assembly, Executive or caretaker ministers,” she said.

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The Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the “priority is the negotiations and discussions between the European Union and the United Kingdom government... I think space has been given for the process to continue but equally, the law does mandate the convening of the election.

“What we really need is a focus on endeavouring to get the issues around the protocol resolved,” he said, adding that “ideally space should be provided to enable those talks between the European Union and the United Kingdom to develop and hopefully produce a negotiated outcome”, he said.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, said on social media that “no election pre-Christmas is welcome and creates space for progress on other matters”.

He and Mr Heaton-Harris remained in contact, he said, adding that he “fully share[d] the Secretary of State’s objective; restoration of functioning institutions in NI”.

Mr Heaton-Harris said in his statement on Friday morning that having listened to the “sincere concerns” of politicians and business and community representatives in the North “about the impact and cost of an election at this time” no election would take place ahead of Christmas.

He said “current” legislation “requires me to name a date for an election to take place within 12 weeks of 28th October and, next week, I will make a statement in parliament to lay out my next steps”.

The Northern Secretary said his objective was “what the people of Northern Ireland deserve – the restoration of a strong devolved government”.

The North has been without a devolved Assembly or Executive since the last election in May, when the DUP refused to go back into the power-sharing institutions until its demands over the Northern Ireland protocol – which it opposes – are met.

The deadline for the restoration of the Assembly expired last week, which Mr Heaton-Harris had said repeatedly would lead to him calling an election, expected to take place on December 15th.

However, he did not follow through on this, opting instead for more talks with the North’s political parties and with Mr Coveney ahead of Friday’s announcement that he would not call an election.

There has been speculation that Mr Heaton-Harris could next week announce a change in the legislation – which requires an election to take place on January 19th at the latest – in order to give time for the UK and EU to reach a deal on the protocol.

It is understood the Irish Government is in favour of a limited extension of the January deadline to give space for the negotiations to take place and for concrete progress to be made.

The DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson called for a “razor-sharp focus on getting a solution, whether by negotiation or legislation” to the protocol.

Writing on social media, he reiterated the DUP’s position that there was “no solid basis for a fully functioning Stormont until NIP is replaced with arrangements that unionists can support. Progress in NI [is] only made when unionists and nationalists are aboard,” he said.

The Alliance leader Naomi Long said it was “time to end ransom politics” and while the “Secretary of State has listened so far on the issue of elections, he now needs to listen to Alliance on the issue of reform”.

“Our government cannot be allowed to continue in this cycle of dysfunction – allowing one party to bring us to a standstill,” she said.

The Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said there was now an “opportunity to create time and space to resolve matters because currently there seems to be no plan to get the Executive up and running”.

A January election, he warned, would be a “mistake” because it would “simply cost money and stall negotiations on the protocol”.

The SDLP leader, the Foyle MP Colum Eastwood, said the UK government must “turn their attentions to restoring the Stormont institutions so that we can deal with the cost-of-living emergency and the looming recession”.

“I believe the British government and EU will soon reach an agreement on the protocol and there will be no hiding place for the DUP or excuses for the harm they’re causing to people here,” he said.