WESTMINSTER STANCE:LABOUR AND the Conservatives combined at Westminster yesterday to affirm their support for "the operational independence" of the Chief Constable of the PSNI, and to assert this would be in no way diminished by the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Stormont Assembly.
This important policy clarification by Secretary of State Shaun Woodward and his Conservative “shadow” Owen Paterson followed Sinn Féin and SDLP criticism of Sir Hugh Orde’s decision to call in army reconnaissance experts to help counter the growing dissident republican threat prior to the murder of two British soldiers in Antrim on Saturday night.
Again vowing that those responsible for the murders would not be allowed “to stall or prevent the progress of Northern Ireland”, Mr Woodward defended last week’s decision by the Security Service, MI5, to raise the level of threat from Irish-related terrorism from “substantial” to “severe” in Northern Ireland. Welcoming the cross-party condemnation of the murders claimed by the Real IRA – and referring only to “some uncertainty last week” about the raising of the threat level – Mr Woodward told the House of Commons he believed the decision had been right “and entirely justified”.
Asserting that policing in Northern Ireland enjoys “the highest levels of confidence from the public”, Mr Woodward told MPs: “In my judgment it is absolutely essential that the Chief Constable has operational independence. Of course he is accountable to the Policing Board under the Patten arrangements. He will, if he sees fit, enjoy the same rights as any other Chief Constable in the UK to request further technical backup if so needed.”