Ministers set six-week window to decide on Northern Ireland elections

Timetable piles pressure on EU and UK to resolve dispute over Northern Ireland protocol

Ministers are giving themselves until 5 March to decide whether to call fresh elections in Northern Ireland, as the Democratic Unionist party continues to block power-sharing at Stormont in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.

This allows the EU and the UK a six-week window to try to thrash out a deal to end the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol.