Stormont crisis: NI secretary invites parties to hold deadlock talks

Power-sharing at Stormont has been on hold since February last year

The Northern Ireland secretary has invited Stormont's five largest parties to hold more roundtable talks next week, BBC News NI understands.

Chris Heaton-Harris wrote to the leaders of the parties on Wednesday.

The deadline to restore an executive is 19 January or legally he will be under a duty to call an assembly election within 12 weeks.

It is understood he has invited the parties to meet at the Northern Ireland Office next Wednesday morning.

It is believed that Leo Varadkar also plans to make his first visit to Northern Ireland since being re-elected as taoiseach (Irish PM) next week.

Chris Heaton-Harris is expected to speak to the parties next week in another attempt to break the political deadlock

Mr Heaton-Harris held a first round of joint talks with the parties just before Christmas, which coincided with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak making his first visit to Northern Ireland since taking over.

Mr Sunak met party leaders and said he would work to ensure the return of power-sharing, which has been suspended since February 2022.

The collapse of a fully functioning government occurred when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) walked out of the executive in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Unionists argue the post-Brexit trading arrangement undermines Northern Ireland's position in the UK as it keeps the nation aligned with some EU trade rules to ensure goods can move freely across the Irish land border.

Last month the five main Stormont parties held talks with the NI secretary and met Rishi Sunak

There have been five failed attempts to restore the executive since the last assembly election in May, when Sinn Féin won the largest number of seats for the first time.

The DUP has repeatedly refused to vote for a new assembly Speaker - a position that must be filled before any other business can be heard.

• The political A to Z of Northern Ireland in 2022

• Northern Ireland fails to restore power-sharing

• A simple guide to the Northern Ireland Protocol

The party maintains that it has a mandate from voters not to return to power-sharing until the protocol is changed significantly.

Talks on the protocol have been happening at a technical level between the UK and EU for some months but a resolution does not appear to be imminent.

Teams on both sides have said a window of opportunity exists to agree a deal but they have not specified a timetable.