Assembly closes for summer break

Politicians held a two-minute silence to mark the first annivesary of the London bombs.

The debate on Friday was laced with stinging criticism of Secretary of State Peter Hain.

DUP leader Ian Paisley warned Mr Hain that he "might be running the assembly on his own" if he did not provide it with more authority.

"When I listen to the secretary of state and when I look at the (order) papers that we eventually get through from him on the business of the House, I think they are absolutely ridiculous," Mr Paisley said.

"They can change within hours - not within days, but within hours.

"I think the time has come when the assembly needs to put out a signal to the secretary of state and say, if this is the way you want to continue business, you can do it on your own."

The four-hour debate dealt with the spending priorities for the assembly and any future programme for government.

Legal move

Sinn Fein did not take part, as the assembly has no decision-making powers.

Ahead of the debate, DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson challenged the speaker, Eileen Bell, about when she would rule on the legality of the new Ulster Unionist assembly group which now includes PUP leader David Ervine.

Mrs Bell said it was in the hands of her legal advisors and she would rule when she had a clear decision. She expressed regret for the delay.

Last month, the UK and Irish prime ministers both restated the 24 November deadline is the last chance for politicians to restore devolution.

Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern said failure to meet that deadline would put the assembly in cold storage.

They have published a work plan for the politicians in the run-up to that date and are due to return to Northern Ireland in October.

On 15 May, Northern Ireland's politicians took their seats in the Stormont assembly for the first time since its suspension in October 2002 over allegations of a republican spy ring. The court case that followed collapsed.

Direct rule from London was restored in October 2002 and has been in place since.