SECRETARY of State Chris Heaton-Harris was last night being urged to waste no time in setting out the British government's plans for the restoration of power-sharing in the aftermath of yesterday's embarrassing climbdown on a pre-Christmas election.
After weeks of threatening to take the north back to the polls for the second time in eight months, Mr Heaton-Harris issued a statement saying there would be no election "in December, or ahead of the festive season".
While the option for a poll before January 20 remains, there's a growing expectation that new legislation will override the requirement to call an election within 12 weeks of last month's deadline for restoring an executive.
A DUP boycott of the institutions, in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol, has left the north without a functioning government since February.
The secretary of state said he had listened to concerns about the impact and the cost of an election and that he would outline his "next steps" in Westminster next week.
Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill responded to Mr Heaton-Harris's surprise announcement by accusing him of "more dithering and indecision".
"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.
"This is totally unacceptable at a time when workers, families and small businesses are struggling through the cost-of-living crisis and a cold winter, and when our health service needs immediate investment."
She said Mr Heaton-Harris should outline now exactly what the British government intends to do to restore the Stormont institutions.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson called for a "razor-sharp focus on getting a solution, whether by negotiation or legislation" to the protocol.
"There is no solid basis for a fully functioning Stormont until the Northern Ireland Protocol is replaced with arrangements that unionists can support – progress in NI only made when unionists and nationalists are aboard," he tweeted.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney welcomed the decision, saying he shared the objective of restoring the institutions.
"No election pre Christmas is welcome and creates space for progress on other matters," he said.
Alliance leader Naomi Long said Mr Heaton-Harris had "lost credibility".
"He hasn't said there won't be an election – he simply said it won't happen the side of Christmas," she said.
SDLP MP Claire Hanna described the decision a "big U-turn".
She said the secretary of state had "hoisted himself on his own petard by being so definitive in the run-up to last week".
UUP leader Doug Beattie said there is now an "opportunity to create time and space to resolve matters".
