THE ULSTER unionist executive last night unanimously backed its leader’s call to vote against the devolution of policing and justice powers, despite strong pressure from senior politicians at home an abroad.
Sir Reg Empey will lead his Assembly team into the No lobby at Stormont later today. But this is not expected to prevent a cross-community vote in favour of the transfer of powers.
The party’s members at Stormont had been under intense pressure from the British and US governments to support the devolution of powers. The governments are anxious a No vote by the UUP will jeopardise the chances of a Yes vote by some DUP members.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton spoke to Sir Reg at the weekend. The Guardianreported last night that former US president George Bush asked David Cameron on Friday to use his influence to press the UUP leader to endorse the deal in the assembly.
The Guardianreported the US economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly persuaded Bush to intervene. A Tory source told the paper: George Bush did have a conversation with David Cameron. It was a positive conversation. David underlined his commitment to the agreement and said we are doing all we can to support it. But he said that we cannot force Sir Reg to vote for it. George Bush thanked David and said, I can see you are engaged.
The DUP executive was also meeting last night to discuss the vote.
The Friends of Ireland in the US House of Representatives and the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs expressed “deep disappointment” at the Ulster Unionist intention to vote No.
The five signatories, Richie Neal, Peter King, Joseph Crowley, Chris Smith and Tim Murphy, said this was a “crucial and defining moment in the peace process”.
Northern secretary Shaun Woodward said today’s vote would be among the most important in the history of the Assembly. Linking the vote with the first anniversary of the murders of two British soldiers and a PSNI officer, he insisted an overwhelming vote to call for the powers to be transferred would signal defiance to dissident republicans.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) also released findings from an opinion poll it had commissioned which indicated strong public support for devolution of justice.
The opinion poll released by the (NIO) yesterday indicated 68 per cent of respondents backed the appointment of a local minister to take justice decisions with just 14 per cent preferring direct-rule ministers to hold that power. A separate opinion poll by the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) also revealed substantial support for the transfer of powers.
However, UUP sources indicated Mr Woodward’s comments and his use of polling evidence had hardened party opinion. Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy said Mr Woodward had used “political and emotional blackmail” against his party and accused him of acting “disgracefully”.
Senior Assembly member David McNarry confirmed his opposition to voting for justice devolution. He stood by UUP insistence that the “dysfunctional nature” of the Executive be dealt with and that the ongoing controversy over education reform be dealt with.
Ulster Unionists claimed they were “thrown out” of a meeting with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, organised to discuss justice devolution, and that their talks “ended in acrimony after three minutes”. Sinn Féin said Ulster Unionists had walked out.
DUP sources complained in advance of their executive meeting last night that the Ulster Unionists had “four or five positions” and that it was impossible to negotiate with them.
The opinion poll supplied differing degrees of support for the parties. The NIO poll put DUP support on 26 per cent and Ulster Unionist backing at just 14 per cent. It placed the SDLP ahead of Sinn Féin support at 21 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
The OFMDFM poll had the DUP on 30 per cent and the Ulster Unionists on 19 per cent, SF and the SDLP on 17 per cent and Alliance on 11 per cent.