UK Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris needs to intervene to prevent a major strike by public sector workers across the region later this week, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has said.
Mrs Long made the call ahead of Mr Heaton-Harris chairing bilateral talks with the leaders of the main Stormont parties in his latest effort to break the powersharing impasse.
The talks are taking place ahead of the largest public sector strike in Northern Ireland’s history on Thursday when workers in 15 trade unions will take part in mass industrial action across health, education and the civil service.
The Assembly has been effectively collapsed for almost two years. The DUP is refusing to participate until unionist concerns around post-Brexit trading arrangements are addressed.
The party has insisted it will not end its blockade until it secures legislative assurances from the UK government on Northern Ireland’s trading position within the UK.
Mr Heaton-Harris has said his talks with the party over the Windsor Framework have concluded, although the DUP has insisted engagement is continuing.
The Alliance Party leader said the political talks need to be divorced from the issue of public sector pay.
In December, the UK government offered the parties a £3.3 billion package to stabilise finances in Northern Ireland, including £600 million to settle public sector pay claims.
However, it is dependent on the Stormont institutions being restored.
Stormont parties have said Mr Heaton-Harris should release the funds for the public sector pay awards immediately.
Mrs Long told the BBC: “The pay issues need to be divorced from the current political impasse.
“It isn’t the fault of workers in Northern Ireland that we have this situation, they should not be used as leverage in the political arena.
“If we don’t get the Assembly restored, he will still have to make decisions around pay, so I see no reason why he (Mr Heaton-Harris) can’t do that at this point.
“Somebody has to make decisions and if local politicians are not able to do that, the Secretary of State has a duty to do that.
“I can’t see any party objecting to that. If there isn’t restoration by Thursday there will be nobody else in charge, the idea that we can just not pay people what they are worth is not sustainable.”
The Alliance Party leader said Northern Ireland politicians were at danger of making themselves irrelevant as strike action looms.
She said: “Unfortunately, local politicians, because of these repeated suspensions, we are making ourselves irrelevant in all of these circumstances.
“People are having to work around the Assembly rather than through it because it is suspended five out of the last seven years.
“That is the problem we are facing – if we don’t get Stormont up and running again, it becomes utterly irrelevant to people’s lives.
“I think the Secretary of State can resolve this, I think he should resolve it.”
The UK's Northern Ireland Office has repeatedly said Mr Heaton-Harris has no authority to negotiate pay in the region as it is a devolved matter for the Stormont parties.
Sinn Féin has tabled a motion to recall the Stormont Assembly on Wednesday, in another bid to elect a speaker.
Mrs Long said: “It is the last opportunity we will have to have a discussion in the Assembly to potentially elect a speaker which would stave off consequences which will follow on Thursday.
“I think there is still an opportunity this week, and I don’t dismiss it, for the DUP to take the initiative, recall the Assembly and put ministers in place. It is unlikely, but it is still possible.
“I would like to see the Assembly recalled this week, but we will make a decision whether we support the recall motion when we meet later this morning to have that discussion with the party.”
