An amendment to the Police (Northern Ireland) Act extending the life of the Police Authority until the Policing Board is appointed was passed without a vote in the House of Commons yesterday.
Failure to reach agreement on policing in the North has delayed the board's establishment. Under the terms of the Police Act, the Northern Ireland Secretary is required to consult its members on the terms and conditions of the first recruits to the new service. The recruits will begin training in September.
Introducing the Police (Northern Ireland) Order as a "sensible remedy", the Northern Ire land Security Minister, Ms Jane Kennedy, said until the Policing Board was appointed the Police Authority would assume all its functions.
Insisting it was not the case that the amendment meant the political process was failing, she said the British government regretted that the Policing Board had not yet been established.
In Commons exchanges, the Conservative MP, Mr John M. Taylor, said that despite all the "painful changes to the RUC", republicans and nationalists still refused to give their support to the new policing arrangements and had refused to nominate members to the Policing Board.
"I cannot be alone in finding an inconsistency between politicians exercising ministerial functions in a part of the United Kingdom and yet at the same time refuse to support the police," Mr Taylor told MPs.
Ulster Unionist MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson said that nationalist parties, the SDLP in particular, had so far failed to endorse the Policing Board. He warned the government that any attempt to make further concessions to nationalists on policing could undermine unionist confidence in policing structures.
An amendment exempting new recruits from the requirement to hold firearms certificates was passed without a vote. Legislation regarding 50-50 recruitment, flags and emblems for the new police service was also renewed.