THE ALLIANCE leader David Ford has called for guarantees from Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness that he will not be ousted from his post as Minister of Justice during the lifetime of the current Northern Assembly.
Last week the DUP First Minister and Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister gave Alliance up until teatime yesterday to decide whether to accept or reject their proposals that would see Mr Ford holding his justice portfolio but would lead to the abolition of the Department of Employment and Learning, held by Alliance Minister Stephen Farry.
The proposals would reduce the Northern Executive from 11 to 10 departments. The DUP and Sinn Féin have sufficient seats in the Assembly to push through such proposals.
This would result in Alliance, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP holding just one ministry each in the Executive, with the DUP and Sinn Féin holding the other seven – four for the DUP, three for Sinn Féin – plus the First Minister and Deputy First Minister posts, and the two junior ministries.
The First Minister and Deputy First Minister have argued that the proposed new arrangements are equitable as it was unfair that Alliance, with some 51,000 votes in last year’s Assembly elections, should hold two ministries, while the SDLP, which won 94,000 votes and the Ulster Unionist Party, which won 88,000 votes, should have just one each.
Alliance described the reduction as a “political carve-up”.