Britain delays Northern Ireland election further

LONDON/BELFAST, Nov 9 (Reuters) – The British government on Wednesday pushed back a deadline to hold a new election in Northern Ireland until at least March and said it would move to make sure public spending is not interrupted while the region is without a devolved government. 

The region has been without a power-sharing government since the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party began a boycott in February in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements. 

They refused to return after an election in May made Irish nationalists Sinn Fein the largest party. 

A six-month deadline to form a government passed last month, and Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, said he had no choice but to hold an election within 12 weeks of Oct 27.

Heaton-Harrison Wednesday told parliament he was introducing an additional delay that means that the 12-week clock will now not start until Dec. 8 and may be pushed back again to Jan. 19. That would mean an election would need to be held by either March 2 or April 13 next year. 

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Conor Humphries, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)

Reuters