• For the fourth time since elections in May, the Northern Ireland Assembly has failed to elect a speaker
• Northern Ireland's politicians remain in deadlock over restoring the power-sharing executive
• The deadline to restore it is midnight tonight

• Caretaker ministers will then cease to hold office and civil servants will oversee the running of departments

• If the executive is not restored, NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has insisted he will call an election

The law states the secretary of state must call an election "as soon as is practicable" within 12 weeks.

It's understood that if called, the election could take place on December 15.

That concludes our live coverage from today's events at Stormont, thank you for joining us.

The SDLP's Matthew O'Toole said struggling familes and small businesses needed functioning devolved institutions.

"That session felt like a wake for power sharing.

"The time is long past for us to reestablish the institutions and get back to work."

As for a possible election he added: "I don't know how I will go to people when their homes may be cold and their children hungry."

Mr O'Toole said he acknowledged unionist concerns, but said the protocol could not be sorted out in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

He added: "The idea that one party can use the people of Northern Ireland as leverage in relation to the protocol is unconscionable and people across this society from all backgrounds have bluntly had enough of it."

Shane Harrison
BBC NI Dublin correspondent

The former US senator George Mitchell, who chaired the 1998 Good Friday Agreement talks, has said it shouldn’t be a surprise that the people of Northern Ireland are continuing to wrestle with their doubts and disagreements.

Image source, PaceMaker

Speaking at the Oireachtas (Irish parliamentary) Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement Senator Mitchell said that unlike in the past efforts are now being made to resolve those differences through the democratic process rather than violence.

He said solutions to the current problems won’t be “perfection” or “permanent” but practicable and workable.

The senator told the committee that nobody can impose a solution from the outside to resolve the current problems in Northern Ireland.

He said he tries not to be critical but supportive of political leaders trying to resolve problems.

“There isn’t any magical formula that I or anyone else can impose on them," he said.

"It has to come from within and with the British and Irish governments."

Speaking after the assembly sitting, the Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said she was disappointed in the actions in the assembly chamber

"I am proud of my colleagues who stood up today and fought for the people of Northern Ireland," she said.

"I am ashamed to be apart of this circus yet again." she added.

She said that elections "do not resolve problems, they deepen the crisis".

Mrs Long said the solution to the stalemate at Stormont was for Westminister to introduce emergency legislation to suspend the Northern Ireland institutions until negotiations with the European Union and the UK government can reach agreement in a matter of weeks.

In the legislation she said MLA's salaries should be cut until Stormont was up and running again.

The action has now moved to the Great Hall in Parliament Building.

The Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie says that he is now in election mode even though that come the end of an election "nothing will have changed".

Mr Beattie also expressed his fears that Stormont "will never be back".

Image source, Pacemaker

"The secretary of state needs to stop putting his fingers in his ears... and start getting the EU and UK government to do something right to get the executive up and running again by dealing with the protocol," he added.

He says the NI Secretary has not met all parties at once, therefore full efforts have not yet been made to restore the assembly.

"I'm ready to go into work today, or tomorrow, or next week, but that will not fix the problem if we do not get the protocol dealt with. That's where we are," he added.

Acting Speaker Stewart Dickson concludes: "The motion has failed".

"The assembly has today been unable to elect a Speaker and been unable to conduct its first item of business, therefore we can proceed no further.

"Any further sitting of the assembly can only be held to elect a speaker and deputy-speakers."

"Under Section 392 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the current Speaker remains in office until a successor is elected," he added.

The sitting has now been adjourned to a further date.

Members have cast their votes for the nomination of Mike Nesbitt as Speaker of the Assembly.

48 members voted, of which 24 voted AYE- 50%

No nationalists voted.

31 unionists voted of which 7 voted AYE- 22.6%

17 others voted of which 17 voted AYE- 100%

6 members who voted in both lobbies are not included in these results.

The assembly has failed to elect a speaker.

The election of Mike Nesbitt to speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly has also failed.

Breakdown to follow.

Members have cast their votes for the nomination of Patsy McGlone as Speaker of the Assembly.

69 members voted, of which 45 voted AYE - 65.2%

27 nationalists voted of which 27 voted AYE - 100%

25 unionists voted of which 1 voted AYE - 4%

17 others voted of which 17 voted AYE - 100%

Stewart Dickson tells members the question has not been agreed, therefore the vote moves to the nomination of the UUP's Mike Nesbitt.

The nomination of SDLP's Patsy McGlone as speaker was put to the assembly but did not pass based on an oral vote.

Acting Speaker Stewart Dickson has called for tellers and the house will now divide for a vote

Another recently-elected assembly member lamented the amount of time he had been able to spend in the chamber.

Alliance East Belfast MLA Peter McReynolds said: "I rise with a mixture of pride and anger to speak in support of nominating a speaker today.

"Unfortunately over the last six months I have spent more time in this chamber with primary and secondary schools than I have with MLAs."

'It disappoints me that this has become a nationalist and unionist issue. My issues are not constitutional but trade issues,' says independent assembly member Claire Sugden.

She highlighted her sadness that "people are no longer coming forward because they see it as a green and orange issue", she says this is despite the protocol affecting farmers and small businesses across Northern Ireland.

"If we pull the rug from beneath those [businesses], we pull the rug from beneath our entire economy."

Ms Sugden said a functioning executive is "capable and responsible for fixing" the issues affecting people by insulating homes, giving free school meals and deferring rates.

"Those are the issues I hope the electorate will ask you about on the doorsteps," she added.

She asked the assembly to "take responsibility" for the power they have.

"If those are my last words as an MLA, they will echo my first words in my maiden speech," Ms Sugden concluded.

Danny Donnelly of the Alliance Party was elected to the assembly in May told the chamber before that he was "a nurse working in the Ulster hospital".

"Like many first-time MLAs I left my career to come and work here, but since the elecion six months ago I've been prevented from doing what I was sent here to do.

"I haven't been able to take part in debates on important issues in this chamber, or attend committee meetings to scrutinise ministers or departments.

"No one has."

DUP MLA Diane Dodds said she wanted to see devolution restored and outlined the issues surrounding the protocol.

She said "unionism does not consent to the protocol" and argued that it was adding extra costs to consumers and businesses and creating a "crisis for political institutions".

"We will not be bullied" and "our mandate will not be ignored", she added.

The SDLP's Sinéad McLaughlin says "none of us got involved in politics to hold our society to ransom".

She says politicians are forcing the vulnerable to pay the price of political disfunction.

Ms McLaughlin criticised Sir Jeffrey for refusing to take his seat in the assembly.

She says parties should be working together to fulfil the commitment of the Good Friday Agreement, adding "it's worth fighting for".

Alliance assembly member Nick Mathison said that the DUP's refusal to elect a speaker has left Northern Ireland "utterly rudderless" and under the direction of the Tory government in "chaos".

Mr Mathison noted the pressures communities are under, such as the growing waiting lists and lack of executive pay policy, with "the messages not getting through" to the DUP.

UUP MLA Steve Aiken said, "The people of Northern Ireland will be looking at this today and saying what are they doing."

"Here we are squabbling back in forth," he added.

Mr Aiken said, "It will be a long time for the assembly to come back and said the protocol "has to be dealt with."

He added that trust must be restored in the institutions and democracy and said "can we do something about making Northern Ireland work and work effectively".

The former Ulster Unionist leader added that the idea of joint authority was "incredible" and nothing more than "point scoring".

Jessica Parker
Reporting from Brussels

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and the European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic are expected to hold a call shortly, about EU-UK talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Technical-level talks, on how to fix problems with the post-Brexit treaty, are expected to continue even in the event of fresh elections.

That’s a change from earlier in the year, when negotiations were paused ahead of May’s poll.

People close to the current talks say the mood is better between the two sides than it was back then.

However there are also warnings that it’s entirely possible, because of remaining differences between Brussels and London, that discussions could eventually run out of road.

It will be the first time Mr Cleverly & Mr Sefcovic have spoken since Rishi Sunak took over from Liz Truss as prime minister.

It’s understood that the timing of the call shouldn’t necessarily be linked with tonight’s deadline at Stormont.

"Let's be clear, this is not a serious attempt to elect a Speaker today," says DUP's Gordon Lyons.

"Rather this is the campaign launch ahead of this election.

"Everyone here today knows that there will be no speaker elected."

He tells Alliance's Naomi Long he's not going to "sit down and shut up" over the DUP's protocol concerns.

Ms. Long responded by asking if it's appropriate for a member to directly address another member across the chamber.

She said he is attempting to undermine her integrity by maliciously misrepresenting the position of the Alliance party.

Sinn Féin's Pat Sheehan said he hoped that a speaker could be elected.

Mr Sheehan said the cost-of-living crisis was something that few people have experienced before.

"People need our help," he said.

He stated the public were sick of listening to the DUP talk about the protocol and Sinn Féin were ready to go into an executive.

He called on the DUP to "do the right thing for the people and do it now".