UK: New law to be introduced to delay Stormont election
The UK government will today introduce legislation to postpone the deadline for a Stormont election for up to a year.
(rte.ie) One was due to have been called in October but was abandoned amidst a continuing row over the Northern Ireland Protocol and the restoration of power-sharing. The new law is expected to complete all its Commons stages in a single day.
It allows Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris to push the deadline for calling a new poll out to January 2024. He would however be able to call one at any time within that period.
But if it went all the way to the January 2024 deadline, it could mean no election until April 2024. Mr Heaton-Harris said it would give time and space for EU and UK negotiators to cut a deal on the protocol. The DUP is refusing to re-enter power-sharing in opposition to the protocol. Intensive talks have been taking place between the EU and UK raising speculation that a deal might be in the offing this week.
But the timeframe has slipped as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces significant opposition from a section of his own party. The DUP has also indicated that what they've been told would not be sufficient to persuade them back into Stormont.
The legislation being passed will also make provision for new organ donation legislation. Dáithí's Law would make all adults in Northern Ireland into organ donors unless they opted out. It's named for Dáithí Mac Gabhann, a six-year-old Belfast boy who needs a heart transplant and who has championed the cause.
The law had been delayed by the collapse of Stormont because enacting legislation had still to be passed. The issue caused controversy when Mr Heaton-Harris called for Stormont politicians to reconvene the assembly as the quickest way to achieve it.
The DUP said that was political blackmail and the necessary legislation could be passed just as quickly at Westminster. The Northern Secretary agreed to the move after Mr Sunak came to Belfast for talks with the DUP over a potential protocol deal. He tacked the organ legislation into the bill postponing the election.
The Mac Gabhann family will be in Westminster tomorrow to see the law passed
