Government 'set to dock MLA pay today while side-stepping new election date'

The BBC has said that Tory MP Chris Heaton-Harris, the NI Secretary, will unveil a pay-cut of roughly one-third, due to there being no functioning government in Northern Ireland over six months after the last election.

The broadcaster also reports that, at the same time, he’s “expected to extend a deadline for calling an assembly election by an initial six weeks”.

Three weeks ago, Mr Heaton-Harris told Parliament: “If we do not get a reformed Executive by one minute past midnight on the 28th of October, I will be calling an election, that’s what the law requires me to do, and that is what I will be doing.”

But he has not yet called any such election, and the main Northern Irish parties voiced frustration last week after face-to-face meetings with Mr Heaton-Harris failed to shed any light on when this might happen.