The deadline for restoring Stormont power-sharing is to be extended until mid-January, the Secretary of State has announced.
Chris Heaton-Harris said he will introduce legislation to provide a "short, straightforward extension" to the period for forming a new Executive.
The period which lapsed on October 28 will be extended by six weeks to December 8, with a potential for a further extension to January 19 "if necessary".
Read more: Dozens of Stormont questions go unanswered after caretaker ministers removed from office
Mr Heaton-Harris said he will also bring forward measures to cut MLA pay and "limited but necessary steps" to enable Stormont departments to deliver public services in the absence of ministers.
The Northern Ireland secretary made a statement to the House of Commons outlining his next steps in response to the power-sharing limbo in Northern Ireland.
A failure to form a ministerial Executive following May's Assembly election currently places a legal responsibility on the UK Government to hold a snap poll by January 19.
Mr Heaton-Harris had already ruled out a December election, while a poll in January would present logistical challenges as the election campaign would run through the festive period.
The DUP is blocking the restoration of the devolved institutions in protest against Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
It has made clear it will not return to power-sharing until the protocol's economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland are scrapped.
Negotiations between London and Brussels aimed at securing changes to the protocol are continuing.
In a statement in the Commons, Mr Heaton-Harris said he currently has a legal duty to call an election that "few want and everyone tells me will change nothing".
He added: "Thus I will be introducing legislation to provide a short, straightforward extension to the period for Executive formation, extending the current period by six weeks to December 8 with a potential for a further extension to January 19 if necessary.
"This aims to create the time and space needed for talks between the UK Government and the European Commission to develop and for the Northern Ireland parties to work together to restore the devolved institutions as soon as possible."
The plan would push back holding a potential snap election to April 13 at the latest.
Mr Heaton-Harris raised concerns over the lack of Stormont ministers in post to address problems such as a £660million "in-year budget black hole".
He added: "As civil servants do not have the legal authority to tackle these issues in the absence of an Executive, I must take limited but necessary steps to protect Northern Ireland’s public finances and the delivery of public services.
"So, as has been done before, the legislation I introduce will also enable Northern Ireland departments to support public service delivery; make a small number of vital public appointments, like to the Northern Ireland Policing Board; and address the serious budgetary concerns I’ve already mentioned."
Mr Heaton-Harris continued: "People across Northern Ireland are frustrated that their Members of the Legislative Assembly continue to draw a full salary whilst not performing all of the duties they were elected to do.
"I will thus be asking for this House’s support to enable me to reduce MLAs' salaries appropriately."
According to reports, Mr Heaton-Harris could seek to reduce MLA pay by just under a third, 27%.
The deadline to establish a new Executive lapsed on October 28, with the Government assuming a legal responsibility to hold a fresh poll within 12 weeks.
Mr Heaton-Harris had repeatedly vowed to set an election date the minute the deadline expired, but he was accused of a U-turn after backtracking on his pledge.
During Northern Ireland questions in the Commons, Mr Heaton-Harris denied the Prime Minister had intervened on the issue to overrule him.
Asked by a Labour MP whether Rishi Sunak had "directly overruled" a planned poll, Mr Heaton-Harris replied: "I don't believe I was overruled by the Prime Minister."
MLAs currently receive a salary of £51,500 a year.
It is not the first time MLA pay has been docked following the collapse of Stormont power-sharing.
In 2018 the UK Government reduced MLA salaries, with the cuts occurring in two stages beginning in November that year.
DUP MLA Edwin Poots said cutting salaries would have "no influence whatsoever" on his party's stance on boycotting Stormont until changes are made to the protocol.
He told BBC Radio Ulster: "Should they entirely take the salaries away, that's entirely up to the Secretary of State, but what he really needs to focus on is finding a solution to the problem that has been created, a problem that ensures that our assembly would be taking laws, our people will be taking laws, passed in the European Parliament, which would then be applied in Northern Ireland where we have no scrutiny, where we have no role, we have no impact – that’s legislation without representation."
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