BRITISH PRIME minister Gordon Brown is to hold talks early next week with Northern Ireland First Minister, Democratic Unionist Peter Robinson, and Deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, in a bid to end a row about the future of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) funding.
Mr Brown yesterday met both men at Downing Street, but they arrived and departed separately – indicating the gulf that exists over the devolution of policing and security powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive.
Saying that some issues needed to be “smoothed over”, Mr McGuinness said “good progress” had been made during the 90-minute encounter, “and, hopefully, we will meet again within coming days to finalise a deal on this. I believe it is an imperative that we get this done before Christmas. People in the judiciary, the police, and in the communities deserve to know that politicians are going to move ahead . . . to see that powers are transferred from London to our administration.”
Earlier this week, Mr McGuinness warned that failure to agree a deal before Christmas would ensure that policing and justice powers would not be transferred until after the NI Assembly elections in 2011.
Mr McGuinness sharply rejected Mr Robinson’s declaration that any PSNI funding deal which must cover an expected £500 million (€560 million) hearing loss compensation bill, among other things, should be guaranteed by Conservative Party leader David Cameron.
“I am one of those who believe that we shouldn’t be handing vetoes to people, whether it is Reg Empey or David Cameron. This is the British government we are dealing with. I don’t know the complexion of the next British government we will be dealing with. Is it going to be a Labour government? Is it going to be a Conservative government? What we have to do as politicians is to conclude a deal now. It would be incumbent on any incoming British government to honour agreements made,” he said.
Speaking later to journalists, Mr Robinson stood by his demand for a Conservative guarantee: “I think it is necessary for the Deputy First Minister and I and, perhaps, other party leaders, to open up a conversation with a potential new government to ensure that they will stand by any arrangements that we would agree with this prime minister.
“I think the Assembly will want to know, if they are hearing what the new financial arrangements are, whether those arrangements . . . will go beyond May of next year,” said Mr Robinson, who is coping with internal DUP dissatisfaction over policing devolution plans. “Nobody should be rushing towards the devolution of policing and justice in circumstances that leave us without the necessary funding, and leave us having to draw funds down from health, education, housing, or wherever else,” he added.
However, the Conservatives have refused the call. Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson said: “We are facing a major economic crisis should we win the next election. We cannot give any guarantees on any spending programmes. We will look at the details. All I can assure you is that we will do the right thing for Northern Ireland, and that we will be responsible.”
Negotiations on the issue have been under way for months, but progress has been slow on bridging the £600 million gap that exists between the PSNI’s expected future spending needs and the treasury offer, which is likely to come under severe pressure next year when UK public spending is set to fall sharply.
The PSNI has an annual budget of £1.2 billion, one of the largest of the 43 police forces in the UK.