Theresa May calls for 'one final push' from Northern Irish parties

Theresa May has urged Sinn Fein and the DUP to make "one final push" to reach a power-sharing agreement at the Stormont Assembly.

Northern Ireland has been without an executive since January of last year, when then Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness pulled his party out in protest at the DUP's handling of a renewable energy scheme. 

While subsequent talks have so far proved fruitless, DUP leader Arlene Foster said there had been "very, very good progress", while her Sinn Fein counterpart Mary Lou McDonnell said negotiations had reached a "decisive phase"

The Prime Minister was in Belfast for what she said were "full and frank" conversations with all five main assembly parties, as well as holding discussions with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar. 

"I have been meeting the leaders of the main parties involved in the talks and I have urged them to make one final push for the sake of the people here in Northern Ireland," she said. 
  
"It has been thirteen long months since we last saw devolved government here and I think we are now at the point of where it is time for the locally elected representatives to find a way to work together and to deal with and tackle the many pressing issues facing Northern Ireland."