DUP says it is election-ready amid confusion from govt over date of upcoming Assembly poll​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The government of Northern Ireland is now officially rudderless as of Friday last week, with the ministers who had retained their posts from before the May election turfed out, thanks to a deadline written into the 1998 Northern Ireland Act.

Because no devolved government was up and running 24 weeks after the Assembly first met after May’s election, the Westminster government is now also legally-obliged to “propose a date” for a fresh election “as soon as practicable”.

Just a fortnight ago, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris had 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.”

The Press Association news agency has reported that the Electoral Office had already written to the main Northern Ireland parties, saying that if there is an election called, it will be on December 15.

But at time of writing no such announcement had been made, and after meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris face-to-face today, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said “we simply don’t know” when – or even if – this is actually going to happen.

According to colleague Carla Lockhart, the party is ready to face whatever comes though.

The Upper Bann MP said in a statement: “For weeks now we’ve had the Secretary of State claim that he will announce the date of an election, with much speculation over 15th December as a potential polling day.

“Many commentators have said this was a tactic to ramp up pressure on the DUP to re-enter the Northern Ireland Executive. If this was the goal, the Secretary of State has missed it.

"We’re quite clear – the DUP received a mandate on the basis of the Protocol being replaced prior to a return to Stormont. We will not renege on our commitments to our electorate.

“Threats of elections are not something we fear. We are election-ready, prepared to go to the people to reinforce our mandate.

"An election will not change a thing, so if the Secretary of State persists with this it’s for him to explain the merit of bringing people to the polls 10 days before Christmas.”

The law allows the NI Secretary some flexibility on calling an election, but not much. Here specifically is what it says:

That if "the period of 24 weeks beginning with the day on which an Assembly first meets expires without the offices mentioned in section 16A(3) having been filled [meaning the Executive ministers]... all Northern Ireland Ministers shall cease to hold office".

When this is the case, then "the Secretary of State shall, as soon as practicable, propose a date for the poll for the election of the next Assembly".

The 1998 act says this election must happen within a period of 12 weeks - which theoretically could mean any time before January 12, 2023.

Yet following a meeting between the NI Secretary and Sir Jeffrey, the latter said today: “We simply don’t know. The Secretary of State has not told us when he is going to call an election.

“So, at the moment, neither we nor the people of Northern Ireland know if and when an election will take place.”

No First or Deputy First Ministers were appointed after the previous holders vacated their offices in February.

And now the following ministers are out of office too, as of last Friday (meaning their salary drops at a stroke from £89,500 to a basic MLA one of £51,500 – though there are bonuses for those with other roles, like chairing committees):

Naomi Long (Alliance), Department of Justice;

Robin Swann (UUP), Department of Health;

Conor Murphy (SF), Department of Finance;

Michelle McIlveen (DUP), Department of Education;

Edwin Poots (DUP), Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs;

Gordon Lyons (DUP), Department for the Economy;

John O'Dowd (SF), Department for Infrastructure;

And Deirdre Hargey (SF), Department for Communities​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.

More from this reporter:

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• MPs insist the UK government must have 'buy British' rule for buses to support firms like Wrightbus instead of Communist China

• Brother of IRA victim says news that the RUC linked Co Tyrone death squad to 43 killings feels 'unreal'

• M1 murder 10 years on: Reward doubled as widow pleads for information on David Black's killers