No Christmas election for Northern Ireland Assemblyon November 4, 2022 at 9:45 am

There will not be a Stormont assembly election in December, the Northern Ireland secretary has confirmed.

Chris Heaton-Harris had said he would call another poll after the deadline to restore power-sharing passed last week.

The law requires an election within 12 weeks of that 28 October deadline but it will not happen next month.

Devolved government has not functioned since February, with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) blocking the formation of the ruling executive.

The party has taken that stance in its protest against the post-Brexit trading arrangement known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Heaton-Harris said no election would “take place in December or ahead of the festive season”.

He said that since the 28 October deadline he had listened to people’s “sincere concerns about the impact and cost of an election at this time”.

“Next week I will make a statement in Parliament to lay out my next steps,” he added.

“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.”

His comments come two days after Northern Ireland Office Minister Steve Baker said a date for another Stormont election would be confirmed soon.

The DUP has refused to return to power-sharing at Stormont until the Northern Ireland Protocol is scrapped or changed.

The protocol keeps Northern Ireland aligned with some EU trade rules to ensure that goods can move freely across the Irish land border after Brexit.

Unionist parties argue that it has undermined Northern Ireland’s place within the UK by effectively creating a trade border with England, Scotland and Wales.

The UK wants a fundamental rewrite of the treaty while the EU believes sufficient “flexibilities” can be found within the existing text.

You can almost feel the collective sigh of relief.

The Northern Ireland secretary’s decision to scrap his December election plan is an early Christmas present for the political parties.

They dreaded the prospect of going to the polls 10 days before Christmas in an election which was only ever going to deepen the political crisis.

But the U-turn by Chris Heaton-Harris has damaged his creditability and raised questions about how it was managed by the Northern Ireland Office.