Theresa Villiers says Assembly elections will now take place in 2016

ELECTIONS to the Northern Ireland Assembly are to be put back a year.

The next election had been due in 2015.

Northern Ireland Office Secretary of State Theresa Villiers has said the government is to introduce five-year fixed terms.

“This will bring Northern Ireland into line with the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales and provide consistency over the current electoral cycle across the United Kingdom,” she said.