Faced with yet another missed deadline for the formation of a Stormont Executive and a duty to call an Assembly election, the British government is again kicking the can down the road.
It isn’t kicking it very far though, with February 8 the new deadline being set by secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris.
There will be justified scepticism about whether giving the DUP another two weeks to get its act together will make any difference to the prospects of Stormont’s return.
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These look bleak, as the events of last Friday appeared to confirm. It was hardly an encouraging sign that speculation triggered by a trans-Atlantic intervention on a BBC Radio Ulster phone-in seems to have been enough to scupper Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s plan to get his party back to power-sharing.
Issuing ultimatums about stymieing Stormont until the so-called Irish Sea border is scrapped always looked like a remarkably self-serving and short-sighted overplaying of the DUP’s hand, even in the context of unionism’s longstanding tradition of picking fights it cannot win.
It is long past time that Sir Jeffrey pockets whatever concessions around the operation of the Protocol are on offer - these seem to amount renaming elements of the customs apparatus, an underwhelming reward for two years of boycott - and gets back to government.
There is urgency to this. A storm is gathering around our public services, which have been lashed by Tory austerity and DUP obstinacy.
Last Thursday’s strikes were a powerful demonstration of the strength of feeling among public sector workers about how they have been treated, with their pay awards being used as a pawn in manoeuvring between the British government and the DUP.
Issuing ultimatums about stymieing Stormont until the so-called Irish Sea border is scrapped always looked like a remarkably self-serving and short-sighted overplaying of the DUP’s hand, even in the context of unionism’s longstanding tradition of picking fights it cannot win
Public transport workers have already announced further industrial action for next week, with three further days of strikes mooted throughout February. Disruption is inevitable.
But we also see the damage caused by Stormont’s failure in the constant pressures in our hospitals and health and social care system, in the challenges facing our children’s schools, and the road and rail infrastructure which needs massive investment.
If Sir Jeffrey and the DUP can still not summon the courage to find their way back to Parliament Buildings by February 8, it will fall to Mr Heaton-Harris to make important decisions about the running of Northern Ireland.
SDLP MPs Colum Eastwood and Claire Hanna are seeking to amend the secretary of state’s legislation with reforms around removing the “one-party veto on the re-establishment on the Assembly” and obliging him to deliver the public sector pay award.
These proposals deserve serious consideration, though they are unlikely to make much progress. However, something needs to change, or we can expect more drift and discontent in our public services.
