Britain will honour its €1bn pledge for North

BRITAIN’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last night pledged the North’s fragile political stability would not be put at risk by London’s massive spending cuts.

Mr Clegg said the €1bn promised to the Stormont power- sharing assembly as part of the devolution of justice deal would be honoured despite his government imposing €100bn worth of cuts.

With MI5 warning dissident republican groups like the Real IRA are preparing to launch a major campaign, security was tight as the Liberal Democrat leader joined Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and Northern Secretary Owen Paterson for a meeting of the North/ South parliamentary forum in Newcastle, Co Down.

Mr Clegg warned that this week’s bombing in Derry showed the need for increased vigilance as the PSNI prepare to crackdown on republican groups threatening a campaign of violence in England in the run-up to Christmas.

“I want to be unequivocal, the new government will not waiver in our condemnation of those who attempt to drag Northern Ireland back to its darker days and we will play our part in bringing them to justice.

“We take the question of resources very seriously and are strongly committed to the terms of the financial agreement that accompanied the devolution of policing and justice,” he said.

Ms Coughlan, ignoring the dissident threat, said the difficult economic times across Europe could be used to bring the north and south of the island closer together as well as developing deeper bonds with Britain, which exports twice as much to the Republic as it does to China and India combined.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny will attend the inter-parliamentary session of the body today to discuss cross-border co-operation.