Sinn Féin has accused the "toxic relationship" between the British government and the DUP of impeding the restoration of power-sharing institutions in the North.
The party also says it's been told there'll be no further efforts to restore the institutions until after local elections in May.
There has been no executive at Stormont since it collapsed in 2017 amid a scandal over a renewable heating scheme.
The Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI) was aimed at encouraging businesses to replace older heating sources with eco-friendly alternatives.
However, problems with the scheme - which was introduced under the watch of DUP leader Arlene Foster while she was enterprise minister - meant that subsidies exceeded the cost price of the fuel, effectively encouraging users to burn extra fuel in order to claim money.
Mrs Foster refused to stand down while an inquiry was carried out into the scandal - forcing the then Sinn Féin leader in the North, Martin McGuinness, to resign his position.
Assembly elections were held in March 2017, but efforts to form a new executive have repeatedly stalled.
Since that vote, the DUP has agreed a confidence and supply agreement to prop up Theresa May's Conservative government in Westminster.
The British government has since brought forward a budget for Northern Ireland, while civil servants in the North are effectively in charge of key responsibilities.
Stormont efforts
In a statement today, Sinn Féin Vice-President Michelle O'Neill said she's been informed by the UK's Northern Secretary Karen Bradley that the British government will make no effort to restore the Stormont institutions before local elections in May.
Ms O'Neill said: "She also confirmed that she intends to extend by five months the legislation she introduced last year as her supposed plan to restore the institutions.
"Since then, her government has done absolutely nothing to resolve the issues at the heart of the impasse. Can we expect the same for the next five months?"
She suggested Mrs May's government is refusing to act on issues in the North such as marriage equality and an Irish language act.
Ms O'Neill argued: "Karen Bradley’s Government is wholly reliant on the DUP in order to cling to power, and this toxic relationship, alongside Brexit, has become the biggest impediment to restoring the power-sharing institutions on the basis of genuine equality and respect.
"Power-sharing can and should be restored but that will require Karen Bradley’s government finally confronting the DUP’s discriminatory agenda and upholding their own responsibilities to citizens and the equality of treatment."
DUP leader Arlene Foster has previously blamed Sinn Féin for the political impasse in the North.
The two biggest parties in the North have been unable to find common ground in a number of areas - notably on legacy issues, citizen's rights and the aforementioned Irish language act.
