Government hopes to restart N.Ireland talks on power-sharing soon -UK PM's spokeswoman

British Prime Minister Theresa May believes it is more important than ever that Northern Ireland has strong political leadership and the government hopes to bring its parties back into talks as soon as possible, her spokeswoman said on Friday. Northern Ireland has been without a devolved executive for over two years since Irish party Sinn Fein withdrew from the compulsory power-sharing government with the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

"We have talked extensively about the importance of restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland," the spokeswoman told reporters. "It's more important than ever now that Northern Ireland has strong political leadership and we hope we'll be able to bring the parties back together for talks as soon as possible."