Jayne Brady calls Stormont parties to meeting over power sharing

The head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service has asked political parties entitled to form a government at Stormont to meet her later this week.

In a letter to the four largest parties, Jayne Brady said budget pressures had been compounded by a "governance gap".

There is no functioning executive or assembly because of the DUP's protest against post-Brexit trade rules.

Sinn Féin is now the largest party in the assembly and in local government.

After last week's council election, it said voters wanted power-sharing to return.

On Monday, Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy, a former finance minister, told BBC News NI the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) could "help us all" by returning to the executive.

A united voice among ministers could help secure a financial package from the UK government, he added, which he said had offered "the worst possible budget" to punish people in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has denied this and previously said the budget was to ensure services could continue in the absence of a devolved government.

In her letter to Sinn Féin, the DUP, the Alliance Party and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Ms Brady wrote that only elected ministers can take "major policy decisions", some of which are required for departments to make savings in the budget for 2023-24.

Stormont officials have already said they believe they will need to find £800m in cuts and revenue-raising measures.

Ms Brady's letter warned that "leaves the accounting officer in the invidious position of having no lawful means to ensure full compliance with the duty to remain within budget limits".

"As a result, the spending trajectory currently exceeds the budget, and this will remain the case until and unless ministerial decision-making is restored," it added.

Ms Brady went on to emphasise that even if an executive was formed and accompanied by an additional financial package from Westminster, it was still "highly likely" that the budgetary position will remain very challenging.

"An incoming executive would be faced with a series of choices, made all the more challenging because they would fall to be taken part way through the financial year," she added.

It is understood she has asked the parties to meet her on Thursday to discuss preparations for a future executive.

This will include looking at recovery and transformation of public services in the context of the 2023/24 budget and outlining priorities for an incoming government.

Following the council election, Sinn Féin's vice-president, Michelle O'Neill, said the onus was on the British and Irish governments to focus efforts on the immediate restoration of the assembly.

She also called for an urgent meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald said the election result was a "monumental endorsement" for Sinn Féin.

Ms McDonald added they had "broken new ground" with elected representatives in Lisburn, Ballymena and Coleraine for the first time.

"We now have a huge mandate," she continued.

"We know with that mandate comes a huge responsibility."

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party's stance had been backed by voters in last week's election.

He said it "would be disservice to the people of Northern Ireland" for the party to return to devolved government while their concerns on post-Brexit trade arrangements remain unresolved.

Now the second largest party in local government, the DUP returned 122 councillors, the same number as the 2019 council poll, which he said was a clear mandate to "finish the job".

However, Sir Jeffrey acknowledged his party "need to be winning more seats".

In a sense Jayne Brady's letter is a bit of a plea for help because she is a civil servant, she is not political in any way.

Her letter lays bare the scale of the tasks that she and her staff are having to deal with.

She makes it very clear that unless Stormont comes back, or the secretary of state steps in, then those bigger decisions that are needed to get the budget under control are just not able to happen.

There's a big problem here if they don't get back in or if somebody doesn't take control of the reins.

On Thursday, Sinn Féin won 39 more seats than its 2019 council performance, reaching 144 seats across Northern Ireland's councils.

The cross-community Alliance Party also had a positive result, increasing its number of councillors by 14 to 67.

Having come third in last May's assembly election, the gains mean the party takes up the same position at council level.

After Jayne Brady's letter, Paula Bradshaw, an Alliance Party MLA, said it was unfair to ask civil servants to make major budget decisions.

She added that while more money for public services was needed, fundamental reform was needed in the delivery of public services.

The election, however, resulted in net losses for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

On Monday, UUP deputy leader Robbie Butler said Ms Brady's letter was "absolutely no surprise" given the state of the budgetary pressures.

Reflecting on his party's electoral performance, Mr Butler told Good Morning Ulster there was an "apathy" among voters in some unionist areas.

"It's not on the people, it's on politicians like myself, who have to pony up here and say 'what's the bit that's missing?'," he said.

Former UUP leader Tom Elliot called for a cross-party "think tank" to boost unionist votes following what he described as a "massive Sinn Féin surge".

"We must make the union front and centre of politics with a recognition that side issues - no matter how important they are to us - are still side issues," Mr Elliott told the Belfast Telegraph.

The SDLP's Matthew O'Toole said it was a "tough election for us with notable bright spots".

"Losing 20 seats is never a good day," he said, adding that his party has "huge potential".

Chris Heaton-Harris said he was in "close contact" with parties about doing everything possible to lead to the restoration of the executive.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland business groups have questioned whether the civil service will be able to implement the Windsor Framework on its current timetable.

The framework governs post-Brexit trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

It is a revision of the protocol which was agreed by the UK and EU in 2019.

Last week, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said more operational detail would be provided soon.

The NI Business Brexit Working Group, which represents most business organisations in Northern Ireland, said its member companies are "concerned about capacity levels within the civil service, UK systems and businesses to implement significant change in such challenging timescales".

"Retailers and their suppliers will make every effort to be ready and compliant, but very significant work will be required, including changing processes across the supply chain and adopting new IT systems," the group added.

You can listen to the BBC's 5 Questions On, where Ireland Correspondent Chris Page explains the significance of the 2023 council election.