THE ULSTER Unionist Party (UUP) has triggered nationalist political anger by proposing that the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Executive, expected in the coming months, should not be completed until five years’ time.
Sinn Féin effected not to be concerned, but the SDLP warned that the UUP proposal could be damaging to politics and policing if it were to prompt First Minister Peter Robinson to stall on the transfer of justice powers.
The DUP conceded that these powers could only be transferred with the support of the main parties including the UUP.
The UUP policing and justice proposal is contained in a party policy document, Putting Things Right, issued yesterday by the party’s finance spokesman David McNarry. It calls for greater management of public finances and less reliance on “subsidies and hand-outs”.
However, it was his proposal to postpone the full transfer of policing and justice powers to the Northern Executive for five years that caused the strongest response. This is a key issue for Sinn Féin and the SDLP and prompted an effective boycott of the Executive by Sinn Féin last year until it and the DUP reached a compromise whereby the transfer of these powers is expected this autumn or very soon thereafter.
The DUP has insisted that adequate British government funding for policing must be in place before the transfer can happen.
Mr McNarry in his document said there must be “serious questions over the ability of DUP-Sinn Féin to negotiate a proper financial package to support the devolution of policing and justice . . . Any financial package for the transfer of policing and justice powers needs to be rigorously tested for its financial sustainability, risk management and contingency planning against potential shortfalls, and it should be rolled out over a five-year period, initially being funded entirely by Westminster.
“Only then, on the basis of the outcomes of this five-year period, should it be fully transferred,” added Mr McNarry.
Sinn Féin spokesman on policing Alex Maskey said that an agreement on transferring justice powers was already in place and was not an optional extra. “The British government have committed to bringing forward the detail of the financial package in early September. This process is moving ahead, like many other things, with or without David McNarry and the UUP,” he said.
SDLP Assembly member Alex Attwood said Mr McNarry’s proposed “five-year testing period” had “put the cat amongst the pigeons and made justice devolution uncertain”.
“The UUP will find it hard to pull back from this and Peter Robinson’s view appears to be that he won’t jump without the UUP. That’s the political significance and damage of the UUP position,” he added.
Mr Attwood said that Mr Robinson must “jump now” on policing and justice and that the Ulster Unionists must agree to such a move.
DUP Minister for Industry Arlene Foster said policing and justice powers could only be devolved when there is community confidence to support the move. She also conceded that this must include the support of the UUP.
“Peter Robinson has already indicated that justice powers cannot be devolved in the absence of support from one or two parties at Stormont,” she said. “A suitable financial package to accompany the devolution of policing and justice, agreed by both the Labour and Conservative leaderships, is an essential element to building community confidence. No such package has been placed on the table by the government, nor have any commitments come forward from the Conservative Party on future funding for a justice department in Northern Ireland.”
Alliance justice spokesman Stephen Farry said Northern Ireland was ready for the devolution of policing and justice. “Rather than bringing more instability to the institutions, devolution itself will bring responsibility,” he said.
“This paper shows up the lack of leadership on the part of the UUP. Rather than a ‘can do’ party, the UUP are now intent on becoming the ‘can’t do’ party,” added Mr Farry.
