sinn fein, which became the largest party, say the decision will punish the public. our ireland correspondent chris page sent this report, which has some flashing images. the sinn fein vice president michelle o neill can t become the first irish nationalists to take the job unless the democratic unionist party opens the door for her. members of the assembly have been unable to elect a speaker today. this was the point the political mood took another downturn, the dup blocked the election of a speaker to chair debates. that means nothing else can take place in this chamber for the time being. sinn fein said the dup was holding the public to ransom. , , ., ., ., ransom. this is our hour of decision. ransom. this is our hour of decision, not ransom. this is our hour of decision, not tomorrow - ransom. this is our hour of| decision, not tomorrow and ransom. this is our hour of - decision, not tomorrow and not for a moment longer can the dup denied democracy, punish the public and boyco
households are cutting because of the cost of living crisis that government should be tightening the belt two. this plan could save millions of pounds a year and recall the big picture, borisjohnson wants to cut taxes for the next general election and if he is going to do that, he has to save some money in the government budget. unions sayjob cuts will mean cuts to services too, and they re threatening strike action. the government has said to the civil service, - here s extra work, and the numbers of staff have increased to deal- with that extra work. so, if you want to cut back to some arbitrary number, you need to say, well, we can t undo brexit, i we can t undo covid, so what else are you actually going to cut? - and i think that s the difficulty. downing street says this isn t an ideological decision, it s about good housekeeping, but it s highly controversial and details of how the cuts will work far from clear.
in support, including extra for the hardest hit through universal credit and a higher minimum wage. gas and electric bills are expected to rise again in october, so the problem of being able to afford to eat well could get worse before it gets better. we love to hear from you at the moment. are you having to make some sacrifices, some big decisions about what you can afford? do get in touch. unfortunately, what we are hearing from food banks at the moment is people explicitly saying, can i have food that doesn t need to be prepared, that i can give the kids straightaway? because we can t afford to use that extra gas and electricity to heat it up. northern ireland secretary brandon lewis will meet political leaders at stormont today, and urge them to form an executive, following sinn fein s historic election victory. however, it cannot be formed without cross party support, and the dup have refused to co operate unless the brexit trade border with the rest of the uk is removed. kate nic
alliance has more than doubled its number of seats, moving from fifth place to third in the assembly. its leaders said the breakthrough had come after many years work. people wrote us off and said that there was no future for a shared future in northern ireland, and we ve proven them wrong. it s taken us a while to get here, but we re here now, and i think we have proven there is a third way in politics here. but the democratic unionist party has lost about a fifth of its support. a strong focus of its campaign was its opposition to the brexit trade border with the rest of the uk, known as the northern ireland protocol. the dup says it ll block the formation of a devolved government until checks on goods are scrapped. but it s shed votes to a more hard line party the traditional unionist voice, which claims the dup has been too weak on the issue. we will accept the outcome of the election. however, our position remains that we need to remove the long shadow of the protocol
alliance has more than doubled its number of seats, moving from fifth place to third in the assembly. its leaders said the breakthrough had come after many years work. people wrote us off and said that there was no future for a shared future in northern ireland, and we ve proven them wrong. it s taken us a while to get here, but we re here now, and i think we have proven there is a third way in politics here. but the democratic unionist party has lost about a fifth of its support. a strong focus of its campaign was its opposition to the brexit trade border with the rest of the uk, known as the northern ireland protocol. the dup says it ll block the formation of a devolved government until checks on goods are scrapped. but it s shed votes to a more hard line party the traditional unionist voice, which claims the dup has been too weak on the issue. we will accept the outcome of the election. however, our position remains that we need to remove the long shadow of the protocol that is i