Stormont recall in last-ditch bid to revive devolved government before deadline

The Stormont Assembly will be recalled later in a last-ditch attempt to revive devolved government in Northern Ireland before the latest legislative deadline.

Midnight on Thursday is the deadline according to current legislation by which the Assembly and Executive should be restored or Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris will be obliged to call a fresh election.

On Monday, Mr Heaton-Harris said if the deadlines passes he will have “various decisions to make”, adding: “I will set out my next steps in due course”.

He is expected to lay new legislation to push the deadline back.

The sitting of the Assembly comes after a recall petition was submitted by Sinn Fein.

A plenary sitting will start in the Assembly chamber at 12 noon.

Consensus must be found to elect a new Speaker and Deputy Speaker before any business can take place, including the appointment of a First and a deputy First Minister.

The DUP has refused to back the nomination of a new Speaker in previous attempts to recall the Assembly.

It is maintaining its refusal to participate in devolved government until unionists’ concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements are tackled by the UK government.

In their recall petition ahead of a major strike by public sector workers on Thursday, Sinn Fein calls for the Assembly to “endorse the demand for fair pay settlements for public sector workers”.

It also “urges the DUP to respect the democratic outcome of the May 2022 Assembly election; and emphasises the pressing need to urgently reinstate the Executive to tackle the unprecedented challenges confronting citizens and our public services, particularly the immediate matter of public sector pay”.

In December, the UK Government offered the parties a £3.3 billion package to stabilise finances in Northern Ireland, including £600 million to settle public sector pay claims.

It will be available when the institutions are restored.

Mr Heaton-Harris has been urged to intervene in the interim and secure the release of the funding for public sector workers.

He has insisted that public sector pay is a devolved matter.

On Tuesday evening, DUP MLA Gordon Lyons said the recall “will achieve nothing more than any of the five other recalls since May 2022”.

He said the conditions for the restoration of devolution have not been secured.

“The power to deliver a fair pay settlement for public sector workers is in the government’s hands,” he said.

“The failure to implement that pay award is down to a lack of will, on behalf of the government, not a lack of an Executive. Indeed, the package outlined by the Secretary of State would only be sufficient for a one year pay uplift.

“We fully support those workers in their campaign and there is no justification for the funding to have been withheld.”

He added: “After the headlines have faded, the DUP will continue working to achieve genuine cross-community consensus and the platform upon which stable and sustainable devolution can be built.”