SINN FEIN announced yesterday that talks aiming to re-establish a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland had collapsed, blaming the failure to reach an agreement on the DUP’s recent pact with the Tories.

Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire said he was preparing to impose a budget after warning that the Northern Ireland government would begin to run out of money in November.

"No government could simply stand by and allow that to happen," he said.

At a press conference in Belfast, Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill said the DUP’s deal to prop up the Tory majority in Parlaiment after June’s snap election had “compounded” the talks.

“It is in part because of Mr Brokenshire’s tolerance of the DUP’s blocking of the equality agenda, the reneging on past agreements and recent financial scandals,” she said.

Sinn Fein backs same-sex marriage and wants new legislation guaranteeing rights of Irish-language speakers — which the DUP opposes.