, but it feels like he has. He didn't and is now playing for more time leaving 6,000 electoral staff in limbo still unsure if they will be running an election 10 days before Christmas. The secretary of state has another week to play with if he wants to send voters to the polls on 15 December.Legally he is still obliged to do so, but politically he seems to be moving in another direction.Over the weekend he attempted to set a new path which might or might not lead to a snap election.On Tuesday, he will discuss the "next steps" with the four executive parties.They include keeping public services running and "protecting public finances" in the Stormont power vacuum. He has even reheated the old threat of cutting MLAs salaries if the crisis is not resolved.But there will be no MLAs officially in post if he sticks to his "intention" to call an election. By threatening to pull other levers it raises questions about his commitment to pull the lever on another poll.Is he preparing the ground for a U-turn? I got a flat "no" when I posed that question last week.But if he has to backtrack, it will be hugely damaging to his creditability just a week after being reappointed to the post.Though events elsewhere might cushion any climb down. Image caption, Power-sharing at Stormont collapsed in February after the DUP withdrew from the Executive in protest over the Northern Ireland ProtocolProgress in the UK and EU protocol negotiations might make it easier to lift the threat of an election to allow that process to run its course.Though what are the chances of progress in those talks before next week's latest deadline?Might the secretary of state just allow the threat of an election to linger for months?After all, he ultimately has a 12){kind=link}
The Northern Ireland secretary insists he hasn’t blinked first in his stand-off with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), but it feels like he has.
Chris Heaton-Harris vowed to call an assembly election as soon as the midnight deadline passed last week.
He didn’t and is now playing for more time leaving 6,000 electoral staff in limbo still unsure if they will be running an election 10 days before Christmas.
The secretary of state has another week to play with if he wants to send voters to the polls on 15 December.
Legally he is still obliged to do so, but politically he seems to be moving in another direction.