Northern Ireland talks: UK prepares for direct rule over Stormont

Stormont, the seat of Northern Ireland&#039;s devolved assembly

Stormont, the seat of Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly

(Image credit: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images)

published 30 October 2017

Britain is planning to take over Northern Ireland’s budget as hopes for a last-minute power-sharing deal fade, ten months after Stormont’s coalition executive collapsed.

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If a budget is imposed by London, “it would be the closest Northern Ireland has come to a return to direct rule in a decade”, says Reuters. Without an agreement, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) would also have to wait for the £1bn in extra funding promised by Theresa May under the terms of a coalition deal to prop up the Conservative government, the Financial Times reports.