British Govt may extend Assembly deadline
Northern Secretary Peter Hain is set to allow the Stormont Assembly to sit until July 5, according to the Democratic Unionist Party.
The British Government recalled the Assembly last month as part of a plan to restore devolution in the North.
However, under the Good Friday Agreement, it can only sit for six weeks before it must elect a power-sharing Executive.
The DUP is steadfastly refusing to enter any such Executive with Sinn Féin and most observers had predicted that the six-week period would expire on June 26.
However, the DUP argued that the deadline should be extended into "injury time" as the Assembly failed to sit for two weeks last month.
The party claimed today that it had won the argument and the Assembly would be sitting until July 5.
The DUP wants the Assembly to remain in session indefinitely without any power-sharing Executive, but this is vehemently opposed by Sinn Féin and the SDLP, who say it would breach the Good Friday Agreement.
