British govt pressures Paisley to complete devolution

The British Government today put fresh pressure on Northern Ireland First Minister, the Rev Ian Paisley, to agree to the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Stormont Executive.

London and Dublin want the final piece of the devolution jigsaw to be completed by May but Mr Paisley and his Democratic Unionist Party are resisting.

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, speaking at the opening of a Criminal Justice Week conference in Belfast, urged a change of heart.

He said he hoped that sooner rather than later ``local politicians will take up the opportunity to show real leadership and embrace the final part of devolution and get on with actually running policing and criminal justice for themselves.''

He said with local politicians make the decisions and local judges being involved in the system one would get the right thing for Northern Ireland.

Responding to a call for action by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mr Paisley last week told the Stormont Assembly that as First Minister he had ``absolutely no intention'' of bringing such a proposal to the Assembly as the necessary conditions did not exist.

The DUP says there is insufficient community confidence in Sinn Féin's commitment to the rule of law for the transfer of the powers yet.