The reins of law and order return

JUSTICE powers are handed back to Stormont today almost 40 years after the British government controversially removed them from Northern Ireland’s local ministers.

The decision of then prime minister Ted Heath, taken in a bid to control the worsening security situation, prompted the fall of the devolved administration, with unionist politicians resigning en mass in protest.

Ironic then that the long-running wrangle that preceded the return of the functions to Belfast, and nearly saw the current Assembly collapse, was in large part down to the hesitancy of the latest generation of unionists to back the move.