Nationalists on the board overseeing police reforms in Northern Ireland will not have the power to effect change in the new service, Sinn Féin’s national chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin claimed today.
Ahead of the publication later today of his party’s analysis of the police reform implementation plan, Mr McLaughlin said Northern Secretary Dr John Reid's claim that it was non-negotiable meant nationalists on the board would not be able to bring about further change.
The Foyle MLA argued: "The British Government has said that there can be no further negotiation on, or changes to, the implementation plan.
"This position, if adopted, must mean then, that from the British government point of view, changes cannot be made through the Policing Board as it is currently constituted.
"However, of more concern is the fact that the Policing Board envisaged under this implementation plan does not have the power or the authority to force further change.
"This limited power is minimised further by the extra powers granted to the British Secretary of State and the RUC Chief Constable."
Sinn Féin's document will set out how the party believes the implementation plan and the Policing Act fall short of the model of policing proposed by the Patten Commission two years ago.
Among the issues the party will highlight are proposals on the human rights oath, the issue of accountability, the future role of the Special Branch and the use of plastic bullets.
The party has already indicated it will not take the two seats it is entitled to on the 19-member Policing Board. Those seats will go instead to unionists.
The moderate nationalist SDLP on Monday backed the policing plan, urging its supporters to endorse the new police service on the grounds that it represents genuine change from the RUC.
The Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists called for a united unionist front yesterday to stop the reforms going ahead.
The party signalled it would only boycott the board if Mr David Trimble's Ulster Unionists did so as well in a bid to force the government to change its plans.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesman denied this strategy would work, insisting the reforms were "non-negotiable" and would go ahead as planned.
However DUP deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson continued to insist unionists could halt the reforms which on Monday received the backing of John Hume's nationalist SDLP.
Mr Robinson said: "If the Northern Ireland Office is saying it cannot be changed, I wish they would say it to our face because I think many of us would like to ask them why they were not saying that to the SDLP two years ago when the SDLP and Sinn Féin said precisely what we are saying today.
"If the Northern Ireland Office is saying to the people of Northern Ireland we are prepared to make changes to satisfy nationalists but we are not prepared to make changes to satisfy unionists, then I'm afraid the whole process is fundamentally flawed and all unionists should come out of a process if it as one sided as is being suggested."
A UUP spokesman dismissed the DUP's calls, accusing it of playing politics with the policing issue.
PA