Elections for Northern Ireland’s Stormont assembly could be delayed until next April to give UK-EU talks on controversial Brexit trade deals a chance, the government has announced.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he would introduce legislation to push back the date he needs to call an election by six weeks, with a further six-week delay if necessary.
He was legally required to call an election on October 28, but under the new law he can delay the activation date until January 19, meaning the latest election that can take place is the 13 April.
It comes as HMRC finally gives the EU access to live data recording the exact destinations of cargo entering Northern Ireland from Britain – data that could provide the case to scrap nearly all controversial controls on goods that cross the Irish Sea.
Heaton-Harris told the Commons in a statement that she will introduce emergency legislation to facilitate Brexit talks for up to three months.
He also said he would seek to reduce the pay “appropriately” for members of the legislative assembly.
“I will introduce legislation to provide a short and simple extension of the executive training period, extending the current period by six weeks until December 8, with the possibility of a further six-week extension until January 19 if necessary.
“This is intended to create the necessary time and space for talks between the UK government and the EU Commission to take place and for the parties in Northern Ireland to work together to restore the devolved institutions as soon as possible.” .
He expressed concern about a £660 million “black hole” in public finances in Northern Ireland and health service waiting lists with 187,000 people waiting more than a year for outpatient services.
Irish Foreign Secretary Simon Coveney welcomed the delay and called on the UK to use the time to “engage positively and with real urgency”, saying the EU had “listened carefully” to Unionists’ concerns about the protocol.
Talks between Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič have been ongoing since September, but sources say they are not yet at the “tunnel” stage where they could come up with creative solutions with a view to an agreement.
Access to HMRC data could provide a breakthrough on the issue of physical controls on agri-food and other goods, but not on the issue of the role of the European Court of Justice.
Brussels, which has been seeking access since Brexit, is understood to have previously been offered data, but with a delay of 40 minutes, enough time for goods to cross the border into the Republic of Ireland and the single market.
Earlier this week, Šefčovič told a group of 70 MPs and cross-party peers at a special Brexit convention in Westminster that “the two respective positions are not worlds apart”.
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He said the UK was seeking unchecked “green lanes” for goods remaining in Northern Ireland and the EU had offered “fast lanes”.
“The question boils down to [whether there are] no checks or minimal checks,” he said, adding that he believed checks could be reduced to one or two trucks a day.
Šefčovič was speaking at the second meeting of the EU-UK association parliamentary assembly, an institute set up under the Brexit trade deal.
Both sides are also understood to be advancing biosecurity protections with discussions focusing on a possible emergency brake mechanism, which would allow the temporary suspension of a particular good such as fruit or poultry in the event of a disease outbreak
Heaton-Harris also faced questions about strengthening relations with the Republic of Ireland, which had been undermined by the dispute over the protocol.
Earlier in the Commons, the government faced calls from DUP MP Sammy Wilson to withdraw the protocol entirely because of the second big issue for unionists, the requirement to observe EU trade law and the role of the court of European justice in case of dispute.
The Northern Ireland minister said he believed there was a negotiated outcome that would work for all parties.
Heaton-Harris then sought to reassure other DUP MPs, saying: “There are main positions which I fully understand have been articulated by the unionist community and in line with their reference to problems with protocol and to fix them.” .