NI Protocol: NI secretary aims for 'landing zone' to restore Stormont

The secretary of state has said he can see a "landing zone" to resolve the problems around the NI Protocol which would see the executive restored.

Speaking after meeting some parties in Belfast, Chris Heaton-Harris said he should be judged on his actions, not on what people "expect".

Under legislation, ministers will be required to stand down on 28 October if an executive is not restored.

The NI secretary would then have 12 weeks in which to call an election.

"I think there is a very positive place we can get to - a landing zone which would mean the executive could reform and I want to aim for that," he said.

"Judge me on my actions and my words in this area and it won't be long as this needs to move forward very quickly."

However he said if there was no resolution he would have no choice but to follow the legislation and call an election.

"It's not an idle threat - it's not a threat at all. It's a fact that the legislation says that I need to do that on 28 October," he said.

Mr Heaton-Harris added that he had a friendship with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and was "looking forward to working with him".

The DUP withdrew from the executive in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol after May's election.

The protocol is part of the 2019 Brexit deal and keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods, preventing a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

But it means checks on some items which come into Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK, creating effectively a trade border in the Irish Sea.

Earlier, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie described the prospect of an early assembly election this winter as "diabolical".

He predicted that could result in an election on 8 or 15 December.

"It is diabolical if we are going back out putting up posters knocking on doors to tell people to vote for us," Mr Beattie said.

"We are in a cost-of-living crisis where people are sitting in their homes hungry and cold and we are asking them for a vote when we have already failed them."

The NI secretary met Mr Beattie on Tuesday and had a phone call with Alliance leader Naomi Long. He will meet Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood on Thursday.

He had faced criticism during his first trip to Northern Ireland earlier this month after only meeting Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) but not the other parties.

During that meeting, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill told him that the absence of an executive in Northern Ireland was no longer tolerable.

Ms O'Neill also said the government needed to stop "pandering" to the DUP.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said Sinn Féin "need to grow up".

Mr Heaton-Harris's role was announced as part of new Prime Minister Liz Truss's cabinet in early September.

Steve Baker replaced Conor Burns as minister of state in the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).

On Monday it was confirmed that long-serving minister Lord Caine is staying as minister at the NIO.

Meanwhile, Ms Truss has made her first foreign trip as prime minister to the United States where she will attend the UN General Assembly in New York.

Ms Truss's agenda will include a series of meetings with world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, and her first big speech as prime minister on the international stage.

She is also due to meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen where she is expected to discuss the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Beattie said he felt there would be a "new impetus" in the talks between UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol problems which he hoped would break the deadlock.

He said he sensed a change in language and predicted a fresh round of talks between London and Brussels with some US involvement.

The UK and EU are engaged in a long-standing dispute over the post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, with the UK saying it is too onerous and politically destabilising in practice.

In July, legislation to fundamentally change parts of the protocol passed the House of Commons.

The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords.

The EU says the bill breaches the deal and international law.

It has started legal action over other unilateral changes to the agreement which have already been implemented by the UK.

European Union Brexit negotiator Maroš Šefčovič told a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday that he hoped the EU and UK could "turn the page" in their relations.

He said he was "ready to work in an open, constructive and intensive way with my new UK interlocutor, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, in order to find practical solutions to the issues that matter most to the people of Northern Ireland".

"We need legal certainty and predictability around the [Northern Ireland] Protocol, as the protocol can bring tangible advantages in terms of business and investment," he said.