Stormont crisis: Bid to adjourn Northern Ireland Assembly fails

The vote to adjourn the assembly was opposed by three of Northern Ireland's main parties

An attempt to adjourn the Northern Ireland Assembly has been defeated amid a growing political crisis for Stormont's power-sharing institutions.

The proposal was opposed by the Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and Sinn Féin.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has said it will quit Northern Ireland's ruling executive if the assembly is not adjourned or suspended by the government.

The crisis was sparked by the murder of a former IRA man last month.

The killing of Kevin McGuigan Sr caused a political row after Northern Ireland's police chief said members of the IRA had a role in the murder, and that the organisation still existed.

DUP leader Peter Robinson said the assembly could take 10 years to return if it collapses

But he added that it was committed to politics and is not engaged in terrorism.

Sinn Féin said the IRA had "gone away".

But the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said Sinn Féin's denial that the IRA existed caused a breakdown in trust and it left its government role.

The crisis deepened on Wednesday when Sinn Féin's northern chairman Bobby Storey and two other senior republicans were arrested in connection with the murder.

As the DUP is the largest party in Northern Ireland, the power-sharing institutions cannot operate without them.

On Tuesday, Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson, the DUP leader, warned: "If the assembly and executive falls we are probably talking about the best part of a decade before it would ever be revived."

The adjournment proposal was put before Stormont's business committee and was rejected by three of Northern Ireland's main parties.

After the vote on the adjournment, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness said that if the DUP resigns from the executive then "we move immediately to an election".

He added: "I don't think people want an election at this time."

The UUP leader Mike Nesbitt called on the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers to suspend the assembly.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers needed to "take action"

"This is about a murder, the status of the IRA in 2015.

"We need suspension of institutions and of salaries of members of the legislative assembly. We call on secretary of state to take action."

Analysis: Jon Brain, BBC News correspondent

The only real hope of saving the Northern Ireland Assembly was that Stormont's business committee would vote for an adjournment.

That would have given the assembly and politicians breathing space to negotiate and find a resolution to the problems they have been facing.

The fact that option has been rejected means we could now get a suspension imposed from Westminster.

If that doesn't happen, then DUP ministers will walk out.

We are in uncharted territory now, this is clearly a real crisis developing.

The SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell said his party's decision to vote against the adjournment was unanimous.

"The adjournment was being sought on the basis of arrests, which was a direct interference between the policing and the judicial process," he said.

"We will not cross the wires of the political process here and policing and that is what the DUP have been doing, creating a crisis here around the arrest."

He criticised other parties for putting the institutions at risk but said adjournment was not the answer.

David Ford, the leader of the Alliance Party, which voted in favour of an adjournment, said the leadership of the UUP and the SDLP had "sacrificed the peace process".

"The people of Northern Ireland are disappointed at how devolution has worked.

"The reality is we are going to have to have talks - it would be better they happened in the next weeks than in five years time."