Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris announces 27.5% MLA pay cut from January 1

The Northern Ireland Secretary has confirmed a pay cut for Stormont Assembly members will come into force in January as he moved to further extend an election deadline in the region.

He also stated that the £600 energy support payment, which has faced delays in being given out to homes across Northern Ireland, will be paid before the final payment is made to householders in the rest of the UK.

That final payment to homes from the Government in the rest of the UK is due in March 2023.

Mr Heaton-Harris explained it was more complex for the London government to pay the money out than it would have been for a Belfast administration.

Chris Heaton-Harris has reduced MLA salaries by 27.5% from January 1 to reflect the fact that they are not doing their job as legislators during the ongoing power-sharing impasse.

In an interview with UTV, Mr Heaton-Harris did not rule out a further cut if the deadlock at Stormont continues.

He said it was fair to cut all MLA salaries as the last cut during the previous Stormont collapse when Sinn Fein brought the institutions down applied to all.

"Today I've written to all MLAs that as of January 1, they'll be having a pay cut of 27.5%," he said.

"That's on the basis of legal advice that was taken a while back actually when there was last an issue. I've got strong legal basis to do it so I'm pretty confident it would not be challenged."

On Thursday, the Cabinet minister also triggered an option to extend a deadline to form a new devolved Executive in Belfast by a further six weeks.

An original deadline to establish a new Executive lapsed on October 28, at which point the Government assumed a legal responsibility to hold a snap Assembly election within 12 weeks.

Last month, Mr Heaton-Harris extended that deadline by six weeks, with the option of a further six-week extension.

The first six-week window ended on Thursday and the Northern Ireland Secretary has laid a statutory instrument at Westminster to invoke the further extension to January 19.

Under the present legislation, that means an election would need to take place by April 13 if a new Stormont Executive is not formed by the fresh January deadline.

A DUP boycott of devolution in protest at Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol is preventing the Assembly and Executive from operating.

The party has said it will not return to power sharing until decisive action is taken to remove the protocol's economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Negotiations between the UK Government and the EU to resolve differences over the protocol are continuing.

Announcing what he hopes to achieve by cutting MLA pay, Mr Heaton-Harris told UTV Political Editor Tracey Magee: "Two things, actually.

"One is just a general understanding that there is a consequence for inaction by MLAs which I believe they all understand anyway. They're clever people, they know what's going on.

"Secondly, it is a response for the people of Northern Ireland. Every time I walk around it becomes a topic of conversation very, very quickly.

"I was in Omagh yesterday (Wednesday) and everyone I spoke to believed there should be a cut in MLA pay and it should actually go a lot further."

He denied that the cut was a 'punishment', but a 'reaction to inaction'.

Questioned on the delay on energy payments promised by the Government to Northern Ireland households, he said if an Executive was in place the payment would have been made.

Households are still waiting on a £600 payment to help with rising energy costs - a payment which has started to be rolled out in other parts of the UK.

Mr Heaton-Harris did not confirm when the payment would begin to be made, but said the total amount would be issued in full before homes across the rest of the UK received their final installment.

"I've spoken to Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary... he really does have his officials working on this, pretty much 24-7, to try and get a solution to this problem."

He said the UK Government has had to set up 'completely new relationships' with energy providers, relationships he says were already built with a locally-formed government.

"No one is going to make an announcement and say this is the date until we have complete certainty.

"People will definitely get the £600, one method or another, before the final payments are done in (the rest of) the UK."

The Secretary of State refuted claims from the DUP that he was punishing them by delaying the payment.

"I've heard that from them, but you know, they can be wrong occasionally and they are."

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