Powersharing talks ‘unlikely to be resolved’

Crisis talks aimed at restoring powersharing in Northern Ireland are unlikely to be resolved by next week’s deadline, the Alliance Party has warned.

Party leader Naomi Long said progress to reach agreement between the main parties had been “incredibly slow”.

Speaking following a number of meetings between the parties at Stormont Castle yesterday, Mrs Long said that while there was “some hope” a government could be formed by the deadline of 29 June, it would be “wrong to be overly optimistic”.

Mrs Long said: “There is very little evidence of any progress in terms of delivery or addressing the key issues. We are against the clock.”

She added: “At this point there’s still a lot of work to do and an increasingly short time in which to do it.” If the parties miss the deadline for agreement at Stormont they face the prospect of direct rule being reimposed from Westminster. Northern Ireland has been without a powersharing executive since March.