UUP threaten Policing Board boycott

The Ulster Unionists will boycott Northern Ireland’s Policing Board if the Government refuses to reallocate to other parties any seats Sinn Féin may refuse, their leader warned today.

Following indications that the Government will try to keep any seats Sinn Féin may refuse in nationalist hands by allocating them to independent members, Sir Reg Empey said this was an unacceptable move.

The East Belfast Assembly member said: ”The Policing Board has been engaged in good work. It should continue to be accountable and democratically controlled.

“Instead we are facing the reality of a Policing Board which is made up of a majority that does not represent the voting intentions of the public.

“This is a crisis in the making. We will not serve on a quango.

“If this proposal goes ahead the UUP will not sign up to the board.”

The Policing Board is made up of 10 political appointees and nine independent members and holds the Police Service of Northern Ireland to account for its actions.

In a statement to MPs yesterday, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said he intended to appoint a new board next April.

He also said political members of the 19-member board would be chosen under the d’Hondt formula used to distribute seats according to party strength in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

That would mean the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists, the largest party in the Assembly, would have four members instead of their current three.

The Ulster Unionists would see their four seats reduced to two.

The nationalist SDLP would also be reduced to two seats from its current level of three.

Sinn Féin, which refused the two seats it was entitled to before, will be offered two again.

However if Sinn Féin again turns down the two seats it is entitled to and there is no devolved Assembly, Mr Hain is expected to allocate those seats to independent nominees with a nationalist background.

Sir Reg said unionists had paid the price for the DUP’s “greed” to get more representation on the board.

The former Stormont economy minister said: “In their greed to secure one extra place on the board, the DUP have negotiated with the Government a fundamental re-writing of the Policing Board and the loss of one democratically elected unionist place.

“This ineptitude cannot go unchecked.”