Stormont fails to elect speaker as election deadline looms

Stormont has failed to elect a new speaker. after DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson confirmed his party will not support the reformation of the assembly.

The two nominations for the role, the UUP's' Mike Nesbitt and the SDLP's Patsy McGlone, failed to secure the necessary cross-community support from MLAs.

The DUP has refused to back the election of a speaker as part of its protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The plenary session of the Assembly was then suspended as business cannot be carried out without a speaker.

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Earlier today, Sir Jeffrey led his MLAs to the Great Hall in Stormont where he said the MLAs would take their seats in the chamber for today’s recall but would not nominate ministers to the Executive.

“We do not believe that sufficient progress has been made to addressing the issues of concern to the people that we represent,” he said.

“We were given a clear mandate in the Assembly elections, and we would not nominate ministers to an executive until decisive action is taken on the protocol to remove the barriers to trade within our own country and to restore our place within the United Kingdom internal market.

“That remains our position and so today we will not be supporting the nomination of ministers to the executive.”

Sir Jeffrey said that unionists will not accept a joint authority arrangement instead of direct rule from London in the absence of the Stormont Assembly.

“I think the Irish government needs to hear this loud and clear, unionists will never accept joint authority, if joint authority is imposed upon us, the Good Friday Agreement is dishonoured completely and is not therefore a basis for us moving forward,” he said.

“If the Irish government thinks that by threatening me or my party with joint authority that that will help us get to a solution quickly, that it will move us forward on the basis of mutual respect and understanding then I’m afraid the Irish government is deluded.

“Unionists will not accept joint authority. Joint authority would be an abandonment of the Good Friday Agreement and if that’s what the Irish government want to do, then let them be honest and say.”

The DUP leader said that unionists will not accept a joint authority arrangement instead of direct rule from London in the absence of the Stormont Assembly.

“I think the Irish government needs to hear this loud and clear, unionists will never accept joint authority, if joint authority is imposed upon us, the Good Friday Agreement is dishonoured completely and is not therefore a basis for us moving forward,” he said.

“If the Irish government thinks that by threatening me or my party with joint authority that that will help us get to a solution quickly, that it will move us forward on the basis of mutual respect and understanding then I’m afraid the Irish government is deluded.

“Unionists will not accept joint authority. Joint authority would be an abandonment of the Good Friday Agreement and if that’s what the Irish government want to do, then let them be honest and say.”

Sinn Féin: 'Most of us here want to do the job we were elected to do'

Sinn Féin Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill told MLAs that DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has “left us all at the mercy of a heartless and dysfunctional Tory government”.

Ms O’Neill also accused the DUP of being in a “perpetual stand-off with the public, the majority of whom they do not speak for, or indeed represent”.

“Jeffrey Donaldson and the DUP have left us all at the mercy of a heartless and dysfunctional Tory government, whose own survival is all that counts,” she said.

Ms O’Neill claimed those watching today’s proceedings in the Northern Ireland Assembly will be “bewildered”.

“Most of us here want to do the job we were elected to do,” she said.

“Today our caretaker ministers rally to take decisions, within tight limits, before their civil servants are left in an impossible position come midnight where they are expected to run our essential public services yet have no budget and no powers.”

DUP: 'Today's recall flawed and failed'

DUP MLA Paul Givan described today’s recall of the Assembly as a “flawed and failed attempt of forming an Executive”.

He contended the unionist mandate has been “disrespected”, and said power sharing has to be “about consent”, “not contempt”.

“The DUP supports devolution. We are ready to appoint ministers today. The barrier to devolution is not the DUP. It is the Northern Ireland Protocol,” he told MLAs.

Rishi Sunak has urged the DUP to get back to Stormont before the midnight deadline to trigger an election.

Asked what the prime pinister’s message is, his official spokesman said: “There’s still time for the DUP and executives to get back to Stormont and we urge them to do so because the people of Northern Ireland deserve a fully functioning and locally elected executive which can respond to the issues facing the communities there.

“That was the Northern Ireland Secretary’s message to all party leaders when they met yesterday but clearly the Northern Ireland Secretary has a statutory duty.”

Alliance: People are suffering

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has called for the secretary of state to introduce a Bill that would cut MLA salaries and give senior civil servants the power to run departments as the stalemate at Stormont rumbles on.

Speaking after the Assembly failed to elect a new speaker, Ms Long said she was ashamed to be part of the "circus".

She also said that a fresh election is not the solution to resolving the issues.

"The solution to the problem is this: emergency legislation in Westminster to suspend these institutions until the negotiations with the EU and the UK Government can reach conclusion, potentially within weeks," Ms Long said.

"He (Secretary of State) should in that Bill include powers to cut MLA salaries. It is unconscionable that we are continued to be paid for a job that we are prevented from doing while other people are suffering whilst working hard.

"He should include power for permanent secretaries to take over the running of their department within enhanced ability to be able to make decisions that are necessary and he should include a budget for Northern Ireland so we can start to get control of our public finances and protect our absolutely essential public services."

Speaking during today's debate, Alliance leader Naomi Long said she would keep her remarks short as "there's little to be said in this debate".

She said she cares only that someone will occupy the speaker's chair to allow the Assembly to be function and for MLAs to be able to serve the public.

She said the people of Northern Ireland are suffering without devolved government, describing public services as "on their knees" or "teetering on the brink".

"The people of Northern Ireland and their needs and their interests come first, and what is in their interests is a functioning Assembly, a functioning executive, sustainable institutions and power sharing," she said.

UUP: Anger in towns and villages

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie described anger in the Assembly chamber, but said it is "nothing compared to the anger in the towns and villages across Northern Ireland".

He thanked his party colleague Robin Swann for his service as health minister.

Mr Beattie described proceedings in the Assembly as "farcical".

He said the attempt to elect a speaker was "never going to pass".

"All we saw today was angry accusations," Mr Beattie said, speaking to the media outside the chamber.

"We need to get the executive up and running again, to get the executive up and running again we must sort out the protocol, and we need to do it now.

"It can be done and the secretary of state needs to stop putting his fingers in his ears and being blind to what's going on, and start getting the EU and UK government to do something right to get the executive up and running again by dealing with the protocol."

SDLP 'ashamed of this place'

SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole said the latest attempt to re-establish the institutions felt like a "wake for powersharing".

"It was depressing and shameful. The SDLP is focused on delivering for people. We want to be in that chamber," Mr O'Toole said.

"We want to be a constructive opposition, serving out the mandate that was given to us in May this year, but others won't let us.

"The time is long past for us to re-establish the institutions, get back to work and help people.

"But I will say this to the largest party in unionism, the DUP: it's not just shameful of people to boycott government in the middle of a cost-of-living emergency, it's a huge and profound strategic error for unionism to allow that chamber to lie empty and silent while people are struggling.

"Unfortunately the truth is that there is no option other than to get back in there.

"If unionism thinks, if the DUP thinks, that there is a better way, that direct rule is somehow going to solve their problems, I'm afraid they have got another thing coming."

Mr O'Toole told MLAs he is "ashamed of this place".

"While this Assembly sat mothballed and silent people's homes have got colder, their trust in politics has fallen even further and their lives have gotten harder," he said.

"My party is not responsible for that mess but I'm ashamed by it, I'm ashamed by this place."

He also said that another election would be a "farce".

George Mitchell: Find workable solutions to preserve the peace

Senator George Mitchell has said the political leaders need to find "practical, workable solutions and answers" to the current impasse.

He told a Dáil parliamentary committee nearly 25 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that the people of Northern Ireland continue "to wrestle with their doubts, their differences, their disagreements".

"That is not and should not be a surprise," he said.

"No society is free of differences and disagreements. But unlike in the times prior to the agreement, they are trying to resolve their differences, through democratic and peaceful means, not through violence.

"Imperfectly, to be sure, slowly trying to work forward with occasional steps backward.

"But with the support of the governments and the people of Ireland and the United Kingdom we hope that they will, and with support of people of goodwill all around the world, they must be encouraged to resolve their differences peacefully.

"The solutions will not be perfection or permanent. So it is for the current leaders of Northern Ireland, Ireland and of the United Kingdom, to find practical, workable solutions and answers to the current problems to preserve the peace to further freedom and opportunity for their people."

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Today's special sitting came just hours ahead of a deadline for calling another election.

A six-month legislative timeframe to form an administration expires just after midnight early tomorrow.

If no ministerial Executive is in place by then, the UK Government assumes a legal responsibility to call another election.

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has repeatedly warned that he will call a Stormont poll if tomorrow’s deadline passes without a devolved executive being formed.

Mr Heaton-Harris met Northern Ireland political party leaders yesterday and reiterated the importance of restoring the executive.

He said: “Since I have become Secretary of State, I have consistently been clear that if the executive is not formed by October 28, I will call an election.

“Time is running out, and people in Northern Ireland deserve locally elected decision-makers and an executive who can respond to the issues facing people, families and communities across Northern Ireland during this challenging time.

“We are clear that people deserve an accountable devolved government and that was my message to party leaders.”

The DUP has refused to engage with the devolved institutions in Belfast in the wake of May’s Assembly election, meaning it has not been possible to form an Executive.

The party’s boycott is part of a campaign of opposition to Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol and the DUP says it will not return to powersharing until decisive action is taken to remove the protocol’s 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.

During the Stormont recall, MLAs are set to debate a motion, tabled by Sinn Féin in consultation with the Alliance Party, that will focus on the cost-of-living crisis, the instability at Westminster and the absence of devolved government at Stormont.

The first failed attempt to elect a new speaker came in May following the election.

The Assembly has been recalled on two further occasions since, most recently in August.

While Northern Ireland has no first or deputy first ministers, other ministers who served in the previous mandate have remained in post following May’s election, albeit they have been significantly constrained in the decisions they can take.

If the deadline passes without a full executive having been established, those remaining ministers will cease to hold office.