Vara warns he will call election if Stormont is not restored

Northern Ireland Secretary Shailesh Vara has warned he will call new Assembly elections if the Stormont Assembly is not restored (Brian Lawless/PA)

Northern Ireland Secretary Shailesh Vara has said that he will have to call an Assembly election at the end of October if parties cannot agree a return of devolved institutions at Stormont.

In a speech to the British-Irish Association in Oxford, Mr Vara said that he believed it was the duty of political parties in Northern Ireland to form a devolved government to spend money to help people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.