Stormont stalemate: Chris Heaton-Harris says MLAs pay stays under review

Stormont's 90 assembly members will have their salaries cut by more than £14,000 from 1 January, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has said.

Further cuts may come if the political stalemate continues, he added.

Assembly members have not governed for 10 months due to a boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Earlier this week, Mr Heaton-Harris was granted new legal powers to cut by 27.5% the annual incomes of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

The pay cut will reduce their salaries by £14,163 - from £51,500 to £37,337.

It will mean a cut of about £800 to their pay packet in January.

Mr Heaton-Harris said there was a strong argument to keep the matter under review.

"I've asked my officials to give me some more legal basis and check if they can do more," he told BBC News NI.

"People will also have seen that when this was being debated in the House of Commons, there was a big push to go further so I'm going to keep it under review."