Protocol impasse: UUP boss says the idea an election will end Stormont stalemate is 'nonsense'

It comes as the UUP, alongside the other major parties, had brief meetings with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris at the Northern Ireland Office’s new premises of Erskine House in central Belfast on Tuesday.

Afterwards, Mr Beattie was unimpressed, saying the NI Secretary (who has been in the job for just under two months, and is the fifth person to hold the post since 2019) has “no plan on how we proceed”.

Mr Beattie said: “There is a dearth in thinking about what we could do, and it’s really difficult to see how we broker anything unless we have some form of a pathway to deal with the issues that are put in front of us.”

He said Northern Ireland has been reduced to “a football between the UK and the EU” and that “we don’t know if they’re close to a deal, and we don’t even know if there are any heads of agreement to a deal, so it’s difficult to see where we are heading”.

He added: “But if the plan is to have an election, then it’s just nonsensical.”

Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill, who also met the NI Secretary, said she is “none the wiser” as to whether the Northern Ireland Secretary intends to call an election in the region.

“I think that the public, again, are left in limbo. I think he’s [Heaton-Harris] doubled-down in that approach again today.

“I am none the wiser today in terms of his next step, he didn’t make that very clear.

“He didn’t say what his next move was. But you can’t escape the reality that there’s a legal obligation on him to call the election.

“Instead, he’s created a political vacuum.

“It appears to be pandering to the DUP and both the British government and the DUP have left the public here in limbo and don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long meanwhile described her meeting with Chris Heaton-Harris as “constructive”.

She said he was “taking time to reflect” before making any decision on an election.

She also re-iterated that MLA pay also needed to be cut if the impasse continued.

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