Stormont: NI set for another election as restoration deadline passes

Northern Ireland is bracing itself for a second Stormont election this year.

It follows the passing of a deadline set by Westminster to restore devolution.

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris must now call an election to be held within 12 weeks - and he has repeatedly promised he would do that by today (Friday) if no agreement was in place.

The DUP is blocking the restoration of power-sharing as part of its protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

Yesterday during a recalled sitting of the Assembly leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson re-iterated the party's stance that it "would not nominate ministers to an executive until decisive action is taken on the protocol."

A six-month legislative timeframe to form an administration expired in the early hours of the morning.

With no ministerial executive in place, the UK Government assumes a legal responsibility to call another election.

While Mr Heaton-Harris has not yet laid out the details, it has been widely speculated that the poll will be held on December 15 - just seven months after the last election.

Stormont ministers, who have been operating in shadow form since the Assembly collapsed earlier this year, also ceased to hold office at midnight.

Responsibility for running devolved departments will now pass to senior civil servants.

MLAs met during a recalled sitting of the Assembly on Thursday, but a bid to elect a new speaker - which must be done before the election of first and deputy first ministers - did not proceed as the DUP refused to support the nominations.

The session was then suspended.

The DUP's boycott of the Stormont institution is part of a campaign of opposition to the protocol, and the party says it will not return to powersharing until decisive action is taken to remove economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation - the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill - which would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.