Direct rule of Northern Ireland not ruled out, Brokenshire says

The government is not ruling out any options for a politically deadlocked Northern Ireland, including the reintroduction of direct rule from London, James Brokenshire has said.

But the Northern Ireland secretary did rule out a suggestion from Dave Anderson, his Labour shadow in the House of Commons, that an external chairperson could be brought in to oversee another few weeks of negotiations between the parties at Stormont.

During a Commons debate on Tuesday he also raised the possibility that the salaries of members of the Northern Ireland assembly might be stopped if a deal cannot be secured.

On politicians’ salaries, Brokenshire said: “All options are under consideration.”

The secretary of state stressed that “we do not want to see a return to direct rule”, then added: “But should the talks fail in their objectives, the government will have to consider all options.”

After the deadline for the inter-party talks was missed on Monday, Brokenshire said there could be a “short window” of extra time for discussions within a period of about a month.

As well as dismissing Anderson’s suggestion of an independent talks chairman, Brokenshire appeared unenthusiastic about a proposal from the Independent Unionist MP Sylvia Hermon that American diplomat Barbara Stephenson might be nominated as overseer at the discussions.

Answering Lady Hermon’s proposal, Brokenshire said: “The subjects that have been at issue are primarily in relation to Strand 1 under the Good Friday agreement structures, which have never been something outside parties have been directly engaged in. Obviously while we maintain contact with all interested parties it is about building bridges with all the parties [in Northern Ireland].”

On one of the most controversial issues dogging the talks, the question of how to deal with past crimes from the Northern Ireland Troubles, the Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson issued a “red line warning” to the secretary of state in the debate.

The MP for Lagan Valley told parliament that if extra money was only directed to legacy inquests into killings carried out by the security forces during the Troubles, and none was allocated to the police’s Historical Enquiries Team (HET), then the DUP would oppose it.

“If that happens we will withdraw our support for that process,” Donaldson said.

The HET has the power to investigate all killings, including the majority of Troubles deaths that were committed by republican and loyalist paramilitary organisations. The legacy inquests mainly concern deaths caused by the security forces between 1969 and 1997.

While the talks continue, the Northern Ireland Civil Service will temporarily take over devolved government departments in Belfast so that budgets can be set for public services, allowing for councils to set rates and fund community and voluntary organisations, many of which were under threat of closure.

Martin McGuinness’s last public political act before his death on 21 March was to resign as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland in January. He did so in protest at the refusal by Arlene Foster, the first minister and Democratic Unionist leader, to stand aside temporarily from her post while a public inquiry was held into a costly botched green energy scheme.

The renewable heat incentive, which the DUP championed, ended up costing the public purse an estimated half a billion pounds. Once McGuinness resigned over the controversy, under the rules of power sharing the cross-community government in Belfast collapsed, prompting elections to a new assembly on 2 March. Sinn Féin increased its number of seats in the regional parliament to come within one seat of the DUP, which remains, just, the largest party.