No Christmas election for Northern Ireland Assembly

There will not be a Stormont assembly election before Christmas, 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.

It had been expected that a poll could be held on 15 December and electoral staff had been preparing for that date.

But early on Friday morning 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.

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 that 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 the issue was managed by the Northern Ireland Office.

Northern Ireland’s chief electoral officer Virginia McVea said she had been given “no direction” to plan for a post-Christmas election in January.

Her staff had been contingency planning for an election on 15 December but that has been “stood down”, she said.

The latest that an election could take place within the 12-week period set by Westminster is 19 January but that would require a campaign over Christmas.

Instead Mr Heaton-Harris may have to delay the new deadline by passing legislation at Westminster.

That meant Michelle O’Neill from Sinn Féin was entitled to the role of first minister.

The DUP was the second-biggest party but it refused to nominate a deputy first minister, meaning a governing executive for Northern Ireland could not be formed.

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.

Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin vice-president, accused the Northern Ireland secretary of “dithering and indecision” over not calling an election.

His announcement was a “continuation of the Tory chaos in London that is now paralysing our politics”, she added.

“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.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson tweeted that there should be a “razor sharp focus on getting a solution” to his party’s concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said she was glad the Northern Ireland secretary had “listened regarding the folly” in holding an election.

But she said he also had to “recognise real reform of the institutions is urgently needed” and that it was “time to end ransom politics”.

Doug Beattie, the Ulster Unionist leader, said it had taken a “degree of courage” for Mr Heaton-Harris to rule out an election in December.

He said “we need to see some outcomes” of the negotiations between the UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol before Christmas.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said that with an election “kicked into touch” Mr Heaton-Harris should “focus on restoring Stormont and getting much-needed cost-of-living support to families before winter bites hard”.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that “no election pre-Christmas is welcome”.

The prospect of an election in the run-up to Christmas was generally not a popular one for politicians or the public.

The cost had been one common complaint after the Electoral Office of Northern Ireland said it would need about £6.5m to run the poll.

Policing the previous election in May had cost more than £670,000.

There had also been concerns about a low turn-out of voters amid the colder weather, as well as extra pressure that would have been put on venues such as schools that were due to be used as polling stations.