Cameron urges support for PSNI
Republicans must be prepared to pass on the evidence of crime to police in the North if Sinn Féin is to be regarded in the same light as other parties, David Cameron claimed today.
The British Conservative leader told the Institute of Directors lunch in Belfast that Sinn Féin had to give wholehearted support to policing and all parties had to abide by the same basic democratic rules.
The Tory leader said wholehearted support included passing on evidence about criminal acts like the murder of Belfast father-of-two Robert McCartney, whose family he will meet later today.
He also said he believed unionists would be right to re-establish a power-sharing government as envisaged in Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair’s St Andrews deal if Sinn Féin changed its attitude to the PSNI.
Fresh from a visit to the PSNI’s training college in east Belfast, Mr Cameron said Gerry Adams’ party needed to understand the changes that had taken place in policing.
“No more is being asked of Sinn Féin than that they play by the same democratic rules that are accepted by every other political party, not just in the United Kingdom but the Republic of Ireland as well,” the Tory leader said.
“Backing the police must mean more than just joining the Policing Board.
“It means reporting crime and co-operating with the police at every level. It means encouraging people from your community to join the police.
“And it means passing on evidence of crime to the police, such as in the case of Robert McCartney.”
Mr Cameron said if Sinn Féin moved on policing, he hoped unionists would be equally clear in re-establishing a power-sharing government.
He acknowledged: “It is a big step for Ian Paisley to sit down with Gerry Adams.
“In time it has to happen if devolution and power-sharing are to take place and work properly.
“Success also means a commitment to co-operation on matters of shared interest with the Republic of Ireland throughout these islands as a whole.
“And it means presenting to the world a new, outward-looking and optimistic face of Northern Ireland.
“Such a political settlement would set the seal on the transformation that has taken place in Northern Ireland over these last 15 years.
“My party, the Conservative Party, wants to make it happen and, while we are the opposition in Parliament, we are the loyal opposition.
“We will never play politics with the future of Northern Ireland.”
In a speech that focused mainly on the economy, Mr Cameron called for enterprise in the UK to be freed from the overburden of unnecessary taxes.
He accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government of increasing regulation, taxes and government interference.
“With regulation up, tax up, interference up, the foot of government is pressing down on the windpipe of British business,” he said.
“It is my job to try to take that foot off.”
Mr Cameron acknowledged calls in the North for corporation tax to be harmonised with the Republic and for relief on industrial rates.
The Conservative Party’s Tax Commission’s recent report had presented him with a menu of options for tax reform, he said.
“Tax breaks specific to Northern Ireland would have to be thought through in the context of overall exchequer support for this part of the UK and the precedent that might be set for other parts of the United Kingdom,” Mr Cameron said.
“I will look seriously and with an open mind at any well-argued, carefully-modelled case that business here puts forward.”
The Conservative leader said his party would not be promising up-front, unfunded tax reductions at the next election and wanted to share the proceeds of economic growth over time.
He also said the tax system would have to be rebalanced with pollution taxes rising to pay for reduction in family taxes.
The Conservative leader said there was a need for a much simpler and more transparent tax regime.
He also stressed the need to accompany economic liberalisation with economic empowerment for disadvantaged communities.
In the North, he said, there was a need to tackle educational underachievement. He also accused the British government of cynical and undemocratic attempts to change the status of schools without allowing the people of the North to give their approval.
