Social Democratic and Labour Party Leader Colum Eastwood MP has said the Secretary of State must drop the idea of an Assembly election and focus on restoring the Stormont institutions.

Mr Eastwood was speaking after Chris Heaton-Harris said he would call an Assembly election and would give more details next week.

He said it was clear the North’s political parties and the public did not want an election and need a functioning Executive and Assembly to deal with the issues impacting people.

Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said:

“The Secretary of State’s failure to outline details of an Assembly election today should be the end of the idea. The only thing proposing an early election achieved was prompting anger from the public who want politicians dealing with issues like the cost of living emergency and our crumbling health service, not knocking on their doors.

“What we really need is renewed negotiations between the British government and the EU to solve the small number of outstanding issues around the Protocol, while protecting the huge economic benefits, so they we can get the institutions up and running again. Local Ministers taking decisions on behalf of local people is the best way to address the multiple crises facing people here.

“The DUP need to realise the huge amount of damage they have caused to public faith in the institutions over the last year. More and more people are losing faith in devolved government and rejecting the status quo and continuing this boycott risks irreparable harm to our institutions that they may not recover from. People here deserve so much than what they have been getting from their politics and the SDLP will keep working towards a better future for everyone on this island.”