The government has been accused of yet another U-turn after it failed to set a date for an election in Northern Ireland.
Ministers have threatened to call a poll in an effort to end the impasse which has seen power-sharing arrangements at Stormont put on ice since May.
The deadline for bitterly opposed parties to get around the table came and went today and Northern Ireland expected to be told they’d be voting shortly before Christmas.
Instead, the UK government said an election would happen – but declined to say when or set a timetable.
The halfway house move has angered politicians on both sides of the republican-unionist divide.