Stormont stalemate: NI Secretary 'very hopeful' of autumn return

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has said he is "very hopeful" that the Stormont executive will return in the autumn.

He said he believed a resolution of the difficulties was "getting much closer".

But Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill said she did not hear any urgency on the part of the UK government to restore Stormont during her talks.

The DUP has insisted new legislation is needed before it will end its 18-month boycott over post-Brexit trade rules.

The party walked out of Stormont's power-sharing executive in February 2022 in protest over a Brexit deal which introduced new checks and restrictions on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland secretary was speaking after holding a series of talks with the main political parties this week.

He said new legislation may be required at Westminster and the government now has "a lot more clarity" about what the DUP is seeking.

Speaking after her meeting at Hillsborough Castle on Thursday, Ms O'Neill said she made it clear to the secretary of state that the current political vacuum at Stormont was "totally unsustainable".

"All it is serving is to punish the public," she said.

"Whilst people in the DUP take themselves off on summer holidays, families are left struggling; workers and families are left struggling and worried about how they are going to deal with the cost of living."

If you'd asked me where we're at earlier today I would have said in a very bad place, but that's before we heard the optimism pouring out of Chris Heaton-Harris.

He, let's face it, is in a better position to know than us.

Let us see what happens in September before popping any Champagne corks.

We have to see what the DUP says, because no matter how much people don't like it, there will be no deal unless the DUP says there's a deal.

We are certainly not there yet.

Earlier, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie predicted the executive would be restored by the autumn.

Mr Beattie said his delegation had "a good conversation" with the secretary of state at Hillsborough Castle but said he was a realist and admitted that "the timings are getting tight".

Mr Beattie said there would be a couple of weeks in September when a decision would have to be made and insisted "that's down to the DUP".

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), SDLP and Alliance Party met the secretary of state in London on Wednesday.

Afterwards, the DUP said that the onus was on the government to introduce new legislation at Westminster from September.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak negotiated the Windsor Framework with the EU to address some of the problems created by the post-Brexit Irish Sea border.

But the DUP said it still had many concerns and submitted an 18-page document to the government outlining its demands before it will return to Stormont.

The Sinn Féin delegation told reporters that the party has not seen that document because, so far, it had only been shared with the government.

Speaking after meeting Mr Heaton-Harris on Wednesday, the DUP's deputy leader, Gavin Robinson, said the government knows what steps are needed to restore devolution.

"They are going to have to bring forward measures in the House of Commons that address the constitutional issues that we have highlighted," he added.

However, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the DUP had been given "far too much road" and that it was time for the government to get much tougher on them.

Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Ulster on Thursday, the Foyle MP said the DUP "need to get back to work" as local people are frustrated.

"We have a quarter of the population on hospital waiting lists and we have the DUP playing games," Mr Eastwood said.

"We are in this sort of de facto direct rule situation where the British government is making decisions when we need local people making those decisions."

Alliance's deputy leader Stephen Farry said he was "not entirely sure that the government and the DUP are on the same page" in terms of requests for new legislation to deal with the DUP's concerns over the Windsor Framework.

He told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster that he too did not know exactly what the DUP has asked for.

"I hear the rhetoric at times from the DUP. I hear demands at times that are unrealistic," Mr Farry said.

The North Down MP added: "I am concerned - and the longer this drifts, the worse the current financial crisis gets in Northern Ireland."