'UUP scaremongering over policing board pull-out threats'

Ulster Unionist threats to quit Northern Ireland’s Policing Board should be taken with a pinch of salt, a rival said tonight.

Democratic Unionist Policing Board member Ian Paisley Jnr lambasted UUP leader Sir Reg Empey after he accused the DUP of clumsy negotiation over the appointment of a new Policing Board next April.

Last week Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain announced the board would be reconstituted on April 1 to reflect changes in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Reverend Ian Paisley‘s Democratic Unionists, as the largest party, will be offered four seats next year instead of its current figure of three.

The Ulster Unionists, who have four members on the board, will be entitled to two.

The nationalist SDLP will also be offered two seats, down one.

However, the British government also signalled that if Sinn Féin turns down the two seats it is offered, they will be allocated to independent members from a nationalist background.

Following this, Sir Reg told UUP members in Westminster last night: “Under the Hain proposals the democratically-elected majority on the board would no longer be guaranteed and a Northern Ireland Office appointed quango would replace the presently agreed system.

“This is totally unacceptable to the Ulster Unionist Party.

“To push ahead with these proposals would be to destroy the one body, which is actually working. 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.”

But Mr Paisley tonight accused the UUP leader of scaremongering and accused his rivals of being poor negotiators.

“After all it was his party, while they led for unionism, who agreed and acquiesced to a litany of concessions to Sinn Féin/IRA,” he said.

“The UUP were more than happy to place Sinn Féin/IRA into the heart of Northern Ireland government, time and time again, even while IRA criminality was rampant and the IRA arms bunkers were full.

“We can all remember the days of ‘no guns, no government’ but when it came to putting their money where their mouth was, the UUP were quite content to discard their pledges and allow Sinn Féin/IRA to take up portfolios within the Northern Ireland Executive.

“Judging by the past performances of the UUP at the negotiating table they are certainly in no position to lecture others as to best negotiating practices.”

Mr Paisley also said the UUP’s approach to the reconstitution of the board was not clear.

“One day they are calling for it to be reconstituted and then after it is reconstituted to make it more representative of democracy in Northern Ireland they decide to boycott it because it has been reconstituted,” he said.

“They should really decide what their policy is and then stand by it.

“However, we should take this boycott threat with a pinch of salt, as we have seen in the past that the UUP will normally crumble under Government pressure and forget their chest-beating statements.

“The reconstitution of the Policing Board is long overdue and it will now reflect the changed political landscape in Northern Ireland. Reg should stop scaremongering and talking nonsense about nationalists having a majority on the Policing Board.”