No backsliding on devolution deadline,insists Blair

BRITISH Premier Tony Blair last night insisted there would be no backsliding on the North’s devolution deadline ahead of a crunch showdown with Ian Paisley.

Downing Street positioned itself for a tough-talking encounter with the DUP leader this week as negotiations on the resumption of Stormont intensified.

The apparent hardening of the British stance came as the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) used its latest report to warn of the danger posed by republican dissidents as the North’s political situation continues to drift.