Talks between political parties in London and Northern Ireland aimed at restoring devolved government in the region broke down on Monday, just days before an election and a deadline to call a mass public sector strike.
More than 150,000 of Northern Ireland’s 220,000 civil servants will take part in a coordinated strike by 15 trade unions on Thursday over long-pending pay rises.
The massive strike by public transport staff, nurses, civil servants and teachers, which unions say is the largest in Northern Ireland’s history, is expected to cause widespread disruption.
British Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told reporters in Hillsborough, near Belfast, that the 3.3 billion pound ($4.2 billion) package presented to the parties last month was the same as the one at Stormont that was suspended nearly two years ago. He said it would be made available subject to the Northern Ireland Assembly convening. – Reboot.
Heaton Harris, who is responsible for setting public services funding, said: “This funding will enable Stormont to pay its workers.”
“The talks are over and it’s time for Mr Stormont to get back to work,” he said.
Thursday’s public sector strike also coincides with a legal deadline for power sharing to be restored at Stormont.
If an executive is not formed by Thursday, Mr Heaton-Harris is legally bound to hold parliamentary elections early, but he is widely expected to extend this deadline.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest pro-British party, left Stormont parliament in February 2022, arguing that post-Brexit trade rules would undermine the region’s standing in the UK as a whole.
Main unions say public sector pay rise funding should be released as soon as possible despite parliamentary recess, while DUP accuses London of using industrial unrest as leverage to end party boycott are doing.
DUP leader Geoffrey Donaldson told reporters: “We don’t need Stormont to be functioning in order for[Heaton-Harris]to be able to exercise the temporary powers that he has,” and told London: “The public sector should be made to pay.”
