'No clarity' on election from Northern Ireland Secretary Heaton-Harris after party talks

Northern Ireland's Secretary of State has provided "no clarity" as to how he will deal with the ongoing political stalemate at Stormont, according to political leaders.

Leaders of Sinn Féin, the DUP, UUP and Alliance parties met with the Northern Ireland secretary on Tuesday.

It comes after Chris Heaton-Harris failed to set a new date for a poll last Friday, despite repeatedly indicating that he would do so the minute a legislative deadline for calling the vote passed.

Prior to the meetings he said he would potentially make a decision regarding MLAs pay.

Speaking after meeting with the Conservative minister on Tuesday, Sinn Féin's Vice President, Michelle O'Neill, said "he provided no further information as to the u-turn".

Meanwhile DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said "at the moment, neither we nor the people of Northern Ireland know if and when an election will take place".

The 24-week deadline for forming a functioning power-sharing Executive in Belfast following May's election ran out at midnight on Friday.

Once the deadline passed, the UK Government assumed a legal responsibility to call a fresh election within 12 weeks.

Following her meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris, Michelle O'Neill said she is "none the wiser" as to whether he intends to call a poll.

"He didn't say what his next move was. But you can't escape the reality that there's a legal obligation on him to call the election. Instead, he's created a political vacuum."

The DUP has refused to re-enter a power-sharing executive until its concerns with the Northern Ireland Protocol - a Brexit trade deal agreed between the EU and UK - have been resolved.

On Tuesday, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he was getting no indication that a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol was near.

"Certainly for the part of the UK Government, we've had no indication at this stage that an agreement is close or imminent," he said.

"There are continuing technical discussions, the political discussions haven't even begun.

"That's why yesterday and today I'm calling on the Government to have a razor-sharp focus on these negotiations. Let's make progress. Let's get this done."

Alliance leader Naomi Long said, however, that her meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris was "constructive".

She said he was "taking time to reflect" before making any decision on an election.

"From our perspective, we welcome the fact that the Secretary of State has listened to what's been said by the people of Northern Ireland, that he has paid attention to the issues that have been raised and he is clearly taking time to reflect on the way forward."

She added her backing to calls for MLA pay to be cut if the current power-sharing deadlock could not be resolved.

Doug Beattie, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party said it's "quite clear" that the protocol is the issue which needs to be resolved.

"We are now reliant here in Northern Ireland as a football between the UK and the EU, for them to come up with some sort of a deal and we don't know where they are, we don't know if they're close to a deal and we don't even know if there are any heads of agreement to a deal, so it's difficult to see where we are heading.

"But if the plan is to have an election, then it's just nonsensical."

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