“The Secretary of State’s rollover to Sinn Féin is the first big humiliation and failure of Edwin Poots," TUV's Jim Allister says.

Mr Allister accuses Sinn Féin of "ransom politics" who are "dictating when and how his (Mr Poots') first minister would be able to take office".

In a statement, The TUV leader says: “This further victory for ransom politics raises the basic question of what is now the point of Stormont if a fundamental power is surrendered.

"Now critical legislation will be imposed without any MLA able to debate it, amend it or vote on it," he says.

“Once more Unionism has been betrayed,” Mr Allister adds

Infrastructure minister and deputy SDLP leader Nichola Mallon has said people will be "frustrated and angry" at the DUP and Sinn Féin.

“[The DUP and Sinn Fein] have picked a single issue, and they have threatened the institutions, either wanting to get it or wanting to stop it.

“The [Irish and UK governments] need to listen because by their actions and inactions, they are rewarding this brinkmanship type of politics, which continuously takes us to places of crisis.”

Image source, Pacemaker

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said legislation for language protections should have been passed “many, many, moons ago” at Stormont.

She told BBC's Good Morning Ulster that the DUP had “consistently blocked” the legislation.

“The DUP have told us that they will not legislate for Irish language rights, as a matter of fact they came into the assembly on Tuesday and voted against a simple thing like simultaneous translation.

“Political unionism or that strand of it cannot do rights or really do power-sharing in its fullest sense.”

The leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) tweets that "we should never have been in this situation".

Colum Eastwood asks whether this means other New Decade New Approach commitments will be dealt with.

DUP leader Edwin Poots says the reason Irish language legislation has not yet been implemented is "a little thing called Covid-19, the numbers of people who were dying from that condition".

"If anybody thought that it should have been prioritised ahead of that – that would have been very foolish.

“In terms of actually dealing with all of the issues contained within [New Decade New Approach], quite a number of those have not been implemented as a result of Covid-19,” he told Good Morning Ulster.

Edwin Poots has said there was "no necessity" for anyone to step in over the implementation of Irish language legislation as part of the New Decade New Approach deal.

“This is part of the agreement that made in January 2020, we’re not shirking away from that agreement – we never have indicated that that is the case, so there is no necessity for anybody to step in.”

“There is a lot in the cultural package for unionism – that is why we were able to sign up to that back in 2020 and that is why we are not shirking away from it or shying away from it.”

A Stormont assembly spokesperson has said "arrangements for any sitting of the assembly today will be issued later this morning".

They said the speaker is engaging with "party whips".

Earlier, BBC News NI political correspondent Jayne McCormack said she thought the Business Committee would try to arrange a meeting this morning to try to set up a special sitting of the assembly and this could happen "at short notice".

Edwin Poots has said the DUP were "committed" to the New Decade New Approach deal and "were prepared to work through it".

“What I wasn’t prepared to do was have a gun held to my head in terms of the timings of that, and Sinn Féin’s demand that I do that before the 24 June or they wouldn’t respect the mandate that I have and that this party has to nominate the first minister," he told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

“The nomination of the first and deputy first minister should never have been in question.

Edwin Poots has said he does not welcome a move to introduce Irish language legislation at Westminster in October, if it hasn’t already been introduced by the executive before September.

“I believe it should be done at Stormont,” Mr Poots told Good Morning Ulster.

“That is the line we took with Sinn Féin and the line that we have taken with the secretary of state.

“We want to ensure that Stormont does its business.”

Alliance leader Naomi Long says "much still can happen between now and the assembly being recalled today for nominations”.

She told BBC's Good Morning Ulster she welcomed the fact that NI Secretary Brandon Lewis had been able to “rescue the situation potentially for us”.

But she added that it seems "like a very immature kind of politics that we have to rely on him to do that because we can’t actually stand over the decisions that we make.”

Image source, Pacemaker

"If we are not doing our job, we are letting the people down," the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) says.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Doug Beattie says "businesses are right on the cusp of collapse" from the Covid-19 pandemic and believes "some political parties are putting their own interests before the people of Northern Ireland".

"We need to get together and if we are going to relax any of these (Covid-19) restrictions we need to get that done," he says.

"I am hoping that if we nominate a first and deputy first minister today then maybe the executive can meet tomorrow to do that, I see no reason why not, or even later on today."

Image source, Reuters

DUP leader Edwin Poots has confirmed his party will nominate Paul Givan as first minister.

Mr Poots has written to the party’s MPs and MLAs setting out his position on the talks.

He said Sinn Féin’s decision to set “ultimatums and deadlines” was unnecessary.

He said the place for all legislation agreed in New Decade New Approach was “through the assembly”.

NI secretary Brandon Lewis has said he is "disappointed" the Stormont executive had not brought Irish language legislation forward in the assembly.

"However, following my intensive negotiations with the parties over the last few days, I can confirm that if the executive has not progressed legislation by the end of September, the UK government will take the legislation through Parliament in Westminster," he said.

"If that becomes necessary, we will introduce legislation in October 2021."

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Mr Lewis said he was "pleased" to secure commitments from the DUP and Sinn Féin that they would nominate first and deputy first ministers.

In a tweet posted shortly after 01:00am, he said he expected the nominations to happen "at the earliest opportunity".

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent

We stood there last night at Carson’s statue as Edwin Poots and Paul Givan drove off in a car at a quarter to nine saying nothing.

At that point the signs didn’t look good; we left at around 11, because we didn’t think anything was going to happen last night.

At 11:43pm, I noticed a tweet from Mary-Lou McDonald saying that she’s en route to Stormont to meet Brandon Lewis - I had to read it twice to make sure I had read it properly.

At that point it looked like a deal was on – we rushed back in a flurry to try to make sense of what was happening.

Very rarely do we see these kinds of Stormont crises resolve themselves four days before a deadline.

But there was a recognition that they needed to do this overnight.

Ahead of a busy day on the hill, Good Morning Ulster has a jam-packed programme full of political reaction.

Justice minister and Alliance Party leader Naomi Long will give her take on the situation at 07:30 this morning.

Then at 08:00am, DUP leader, Edwin Poots will speak for the first time since Sinn Féin confirmed it would nominate Michelle O'Neill for deputy first minister.

Sinn Féin president, Mary Lou McDonald will be live on the programme shortly after at 08:15am.

At 08:30am infrastructure minister and deputy SDLP leader, Nichola Mallon and Ulster Unionist Party leader, Doug Beattie give their thoughts.

Tune in here on BBC Sounds or on BBC Radio Ulster.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin "warmly" welcomes an agreement to nominate a first and deputy first minister in Northern Ireland.

Micheál Martin says: “The stability of the Northern Ireland Executive and the full operation of all the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are critical for the peace and security of the people of Northern Ireland, and for all the people of these islands.

Image source, PA Media

“Finding a way forward on delivery of key commitments in the New Decade New Approach agreement is important progress.

“I look forward to working closely with the first minister and deputy first minister. We share significant challenges ahead to build economic and societal recovery as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"There is much we can do together in terms of practical cooperation for the benefit of people across this island."

First and deputy first ministers to the Northern Ireland Assembly are expected to be nominated later today after a stalemate over Irish language laws was resolved.

NI Secretary Brandon Lewis has said the DUP and Sinn Féin intend to nominate at the "earliest opportunity".

The UK government says it will legislate for language protections if the Stormont executive does not by the end of September.

The legislation was part of the deal that restored power-sharing last January.

Welcome to our live page ahead of a busy day of political developments.

Stay with us as we cover all the twists and turns at Stormont.