The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon spoke with NI party
leaders following the failure to restore the NI Executive.
Following the meetings in Belfast, he stressed that he was now
under a legal duty to call an election as set out in the New
Decade New Approach agreement.
Mr Heaton-Harris also highlighted the serious situation that the
lack of an Executive has left the people of Northern Ireland
facing, including rising cost of living challenges, growing
pressure on health services and a concerning financial overspend
situation with no clear strategy for balancing the budget.
He expressed particular concern about the state of Stormont’s
finances, which half way through the financial year are
forecasting a £661m overspend.
Mr Heaton-Harris also discussed MLA pay, and how he would be
looking at taking action on this should the Executive fail to
re-form. Since the election in May, MLAs have been paid more than
£3 million, despite not being able to conduct business.
He met Vice President of Sinn Féin Michelle O’Neill, leader of
the Democratic Unionist Party Sir , leader of the Alliance
Party and leader of the Ulster
Unionist Party . He will meet Irish Foreign
Minister Simon Coveney on Wednesday.
Commenting after the meetings, Heaton-Harris said:
“I had conversations with party leaders today and expressed how
disappointed I am that under current legislation the legal duty
now falls on me to call an election. I listened to the party
leaders’ various views on calling that election.”
“There are important issues of government to be dealt with due to
the absence of ministers.
“I am particularly worried that the Executive has an enormous
black hole in its budget, which potentially has serious
implications for the delivery of many of Northern Ireland’s
public services. Measures to set a budget will be required
in the short term.
“I will provide a further update on next steps in due course.”
