Northern Ireland’s two largest political parties have given differing assessments of talks with the secretary of state over Stormont’s budget deadlock.

Following an in-person meeting with Sir Chris Bryant, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the government of “attempting to shortchange” people in Northern Ireland.

But Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson described talks with the NI secretary as “uncharacteristically” constructive.

Sir Chris, who has insisted there is no more money available beyond the £1.5bn the government has already offered, has accused executive ministers of being financially “irresponsible”.

The executive has maintained it cannot balance its books without more support from London.

The current package would be split into three tranches with £525m available this year, but the Stormont parties said that still falls short of what they require.

Without an agreed budget, public sector workers in Northern Ireland cannot receive long-awaited pay awards that they are entitled to, in line with their counterparts in other parts of the UK.