All ninety Stormont assembly members will have their salaries cut by more than £14,000 from 1 January, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has said with further cuts to come if the political stalemate continues.

Assembly members have not governed in Northern Ireland for 10 months due to a boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Meanwhile, it is still unclear when the £600 energy bill discount promised by N0 10 and already paid to households in other UK regions will be issued to households in Northern Ireland.

Secretary of State Heaton-Harris insists “Everyone in Northern Ireland will get the complete payment before everybody in the rest of Great Britain” but he could not confirm when.

He said the best way for this to be delivered was through a functioning power-sharing executive.

In Great Britain, payments began being released in six monthly instalments from October.