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Alliance Will Not Take Policing & Justice
Following a meeting of the Alliance assembly group, David Ford has acted to quash any speculation that the Alliance will help dig the Sinn Fein/DUP-dominated Executive out of a hole by nominating an MLA to take a devolved Policing and Justice ministry.
Since Sinn Fein and the DUP will refrain from nominating themselves, apparently as some sort of agreement of a safeguard/mutual veto, I wonder what would happen if neither the SDLP nor UUP were prepared to step up and/or carry the can. And is this "deal" the reason for the executive not meeting?
Follow up:
Statement in full:
The Alliance Party will not be taking the Policing and Justice Ministry. This Executive is failing in its duties, so Northern Ireland needs a strong and coherent opposition. We are providing that opposition and we will continue to do so.
The Executive is in crisis over planning, the environment, the 11-plus, Irish language, and the multi-sports stadium issue. Do the Executive parties expect us to take the Environment, Education and Culture Ministries to save their bacon on these matters?
The Executive has not met since mid-June. It is in a crisis of its own making. It is up to the Executive parties to resolve this crisis as they are the government. They must start by actually meeting again as an Executive to discuss the outstanding issues. We are the opposition and we will remain so because this Executive is so poor that Northern Ireland needs a strong group to keep the pressure on it."
David Ford, MLA (Alliance - Party Leader)
Hat-tip Pete Baker and Fair Deal.
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2 comments
It is clear that the DUP and Sinn Fein are attempting to play a game of Executive gerrymandering that will deny the SDLP a Ministry that would be rightfully ours.
That really pisses me off. "Rightfully ours", catch a grip. If there was one person in that Assembly with any sense and/or morals they'd do a reshuffle or merge 2 of the other departments together to prevent increasing the burden of local bureaucracy any further. 12 departments is about 4 too many! The Conservatives have been quiet on this so far, though I expect they'll speak up soon.
I guess if they wanted it that badly the UUP might, in a "you scratch my back" kind of way let them have it uncontested. If both the UUP and SDLP nominated, would the DUP countenance voting in a nationalist minister rather than their unionist rivals?
I'm sure you're in a better place than me to say Michael, but thinking about it, my best is on the SDLP taking it without opposition (from the UUP anyway).
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