BRITAIN’S Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire said yesterday that snap elections to the Stormont assembly are still likely despite unionists trying to buy their way out of the crisis.

He spoke after Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Communities Minister Paul Givan reversed his cut to a £50,000 bursary scheme for children to visit the Irish-speaking regions of Ireland.

The outgoing deputy first minister, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, accused the DUP of “crude and crass bigotry” towards Irish-speakers in his resignation on Monday, which was prompted by DUP First Minister Arlene Foster’s refusal to quit over the £490 million Renewable Heat Incentive fiasco.