![]() It has argued Rishi Sunak's Windsor Framework deal with the EU creates a border down the Irish Sea, separating Northern Ireland from Great Britain. The unionist party, which won fewer seats than the republican Sinn Fein party for the first time in 2022's election, has pointed to its opposition to Brexit trade arrangements. Power-sharing, the mechanism by which a Stormont executive is formed under the Good Friday Agreement, was collapsed by the DUP's refusal to allow a speaker to be nominated. He says: "This very short extension… will create the legal means to allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to sit and to get the executive up and running as soon as possible." Mr Heaton-Harris confirms he is "today legislating to retrospectively extend the executive formation period to 8 February this year". Opening a debate for its second reading, he says the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) bill "hopefully plays a part in that". The Northern Ireland secretary says his focus has "always been on facilitating the return of devolved institutions and upholding the Good Friday Agreement in all its strands". The previous deadline lapsed on 18 January and it's been almost two years since an administration was in place. Sky News spoke to pollsters about the factors the prime minister will be weighing up in making his decision - and when they think the election should be.Ī deadline for establishing a power-sharing executive at Stormont is set to be extended to 8 February, Chris Heaton-Harris tells the Commons. The phrase "working assumption"does give Mr Sunak wriggle room should circumstances change, and he has not ruled out a spring election. This would be five years from the day since the current parliament first met (17 December 2019), plus the time required to run an election campaign. UK general elections have to be held no more than five years apart, so the next one must take place by 28 January 2025 at the latest. Speculation has been rife for months about when the prime minister will choose to go to the polls, with some pundits believing he would call one in May to coincide with the local elections. Rishi Sunak kicked off 2024's political season with a hint at when the next general election will be - saying earlier this month that it's his "working assumption" it will happen in the second half of the year. ![]()
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