Durkan accuses SF over policing board

Sinn Fein cannot sustain its criticism of rival nationalists for endorsing Northern Ireland’s police if it is prepared to do the same on the back of commitments made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair last year, it was claimed today.

Nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan argued Sinn Fein’s criticism of his party did not hold after a senior figure signalled that republicans would join the province’s Policing Board if the Government honoured pledges to toughen police reforms.