ULSTER UNIONISTS at Stormont have still not committed to supporting the transfer of justice and policing powers when the issue comes to a crucial Assembly vote on Tuesday.
The party said the Executive remained in need of reform and key issues such as education needed to be effectively dealt with before sensitive new powers such as justice can be considered.
Party leader Sir Reg Empey, speaking after a day-long meeting with Assembly colleagues in Co Antrim, said last night: “It remains our view that the current Executive must be capable of exercising its existing powers before such an important issue as policing and justice is devolved.” He said a final decision would be taken on Monday night, just hours ahead of the vote on the transfer of justice powers which was drafted at Hillsborough Castle last month after marathon talks involving the Irish and British premiers.
DUP leader Peter Robinson said all parties were in favour of justice devolution, adding it would be a “massive mistake” for anyone to vote against: “Every single party therefore should stand over their commitments made to the public.”
The DUP, along with Sinn Féin, has sufficient numbers to win the Assembly vote regardless of what the UUP does. Sinn Féin and the SDLP are committed to backing the transfer of powers under the tight timetable laid down.
Mr Robinson said yesterday he believed the people of Northern Ireland were “tired of political point-scoring and party positioning. They deserve to see devolution working better.”
Sir Reg, however, was careful last night not to rule out all prospects of backing the DUP-Sinn Féin plan to establish a new Stormont justice department: “The Ulster Unionist Party remains committed to devolution and to providing strong, stable and effective government for all the people of Northern Ireland. Our party executive will meet on Monday to hear a report from the leader and take a final decision.”
The Alliance party said the Ulster Unionists, by adopting such a position, were “badly out of touch with the community as a whole, and indeed their own electorate”. The Alliance has confirmed it will nominate one of its members, almost certainly party leader David Ford as justice minister. Northern secretary Shaun Woodward has said the cross-community vote next Tuesday is nothing less than a vote for the future of Northern Ireland.