Powersharing crisis set to drift on through the summer as talks scaled down

Northern Ireland's powersharing crisis is set to drift on through the summer as talks were scaled down amid widespread acknowledgement a deal before the autumn is unlikely.

While no formal suspension of the talks process has been called by the UK Government, and the main parties have signalled a willingness to continue some form of engagement over the coming weeks, substantive negotiations are not expected to resume in the short term.