UK to delay N.Ireland election in bid to reach deal Over Brexit

The UK plans to extend the deadline for the formation of a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland by a year, opening up a window to secure a deal with the European Union on the region’s post-Brexit status.

The government will introduce legislation to “create more time for the parties to work together and return to government” while UK-EU discussions continue, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said in a statement Thursday. 

The region’s power-sharing government has not functioned for a year, with the Democratic Unionist Party blocking its formation in protest at the terms of the original Brexit deal, which kept Northern Ireland within the EU’s single market. The new extension lasts until January 2024 and removes any immediate requirement to hold an election.

Heaton-Harris will meet Northern Irish political leaders in Belfast on Thursday and urge them to restore power-sharing “as soon as possible,” his office said in a statement. An election may be called at any point during the extension. 

This is the second time Heaton-Harris has extended the deadline — last year he said the decision was taken to “create the time and space for talks” between the UK and EU to develop. The worry then was that an election campaign would harden positions while delicate negotiations were ongoing. Since then, significant progress means both sides are close to proposing an agreement, Bloomberg previously reported. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is preparing to sell any deal to unionists in Northern Ireland and pro-Brexit MPs in his own party, who meet regularly to discuss their position. Any deal is likely to be redundant without their endorsement.