Conservative leader under pressure over UUP stance on devolution

BRITISH Tory leader David Cameron was under intense pressure last night to force his Ulster Unionist allies to back the transfer of policing powers to Belfast.

UUP hard-liners have threatened to vote against the devolving of control of policing and justice at a crunch vote today, despite a personal intervention by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to try and get them to change their minds. US lawmakers have also written to Mr Cameron, whose Conservative Party has an electoral pact with the UUP in the North, in a last-minute bid to get full Stormont backing for the devolvement of the powers.

The UUP claims it is opposed to the move as the Assembly has not yet proved itself in the handling of less contentious issues, such as education. However, the party leadership has made it clear it feels it was excluded from crisis talks dominated by Sinn Féin and the DUP at Hillsborough last month enabling the final piece of devolution to happen. A meeting between the UUP and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness ended after just three minutes with unionists accusing the Sinn Féiner of “aggression and bullying”. The UUP also attacked the findings of an opinion poll released by the British government, which showed 75% backing for the devolution move, saying the questions were loaded.