SDLP and Sinn Fein clash over plastic bullets

The SDLP and Sinn Fein have clashed again over policing and plastic bullets, showing this is going to be a major issue in the May assembly elections.

Sinn Fein says it's closing the gaps on policing left by the SDLP while the SDLP says it's doing all the hard work on its own in the Policing Board because of Sinn Fein's absence.

Sinn Fein's national chairman Mitchel McLaughlin launched an attack on the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, saying he was tired of hearing him claiming credit for every advance negotiated since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

He claimed that when the going got tough in negotiations on policing with the British government, the SDLP folded and took London's "take it or leave it" package.

Sinn Fein is claiming responsibility for the expected announcement on the end of plastic bullets, but the SDLP says it pressed hard for their scrapping at Police Board meetings where the Sinn Fein seats are still empty.

Its justice spokesman, Alex Attwood, said next month they would be questioning the experts who are trying to find an alternative to plastic bullets - Sinn Fein simply won't be there, he said.