Fresh elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly will not now be held until the new year, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has this morning confirmed.
With the Democratic Unionist party refusing to nominate a candidate for the position of deputy first minister since the May 2022 elections, the UK government came under a legal duty on 28th October to call fresh elections within 12 weeks.
The elections had previously been expected to be held on 15 December, but this date has now been put back till after Christmas. There had been concerns that the turnout would be particularly low during any election held just before Christmas.
Confirming the news, Chris Heaton-Harris said, “I have had valuable conversations with people across Northern Ireland, including business and community representatives. I have listened to their sincere concerns about the impact and cost of an election at this time”.
The decision to delay the election till after Christmas has been welcomed by the Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveny, and by Naomi Long, the leader of the cross community Alliance Party.
Doug Beattie, the Ulster Unionist leader, even went as far as to praise Mr Heaton-Harris for a ‘degree of courage’ in delaying a December election.
However the move has not received quite the same level of support from Northern Ireland’s two main political parties.
Michelle O’Neill, the leader of Northern Ireland’s largest political party, Sinn Fein leader, accused the Northern Ireland secretary of “dithering and indecision” over not calling an election.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Jeffrey Donaldson, instead issued a tweet saying that there needs to be a ‘razor sharp focus’ on finding a solution to his party’s concerns about the Northern Ireland protocol.
The DUP has refused to return to Stormont until decisive action is taken over the protocol treaty. This has led to calls for reform of the current institutions in Northern Ireland with the Alliance Party Leader, Naomi Long, likening the situation to ‘ransom politics’.
