THE DEMOCRATIC Unionist Party and Sinn Féin must not “try people’s patience to distraction” in talks on policing and justice devolution, Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward said.
Mr Woodward gave the Executive and Assembly a clear warning that money to build new prisons will not be available unless a deal is struck.
Replying to Conservative MP Sir Patrick Cormack, he said: “Patience is required, but equally we must be careful not to try people’s patience to distraction.”
DUP MP William McCrea told Mr Woodward that his party would “not be buying into any deal” no matter “what pressure” is placed upon it unless community confidence exists.
Mr Woodward said “confidence does not belong to any one community”, before reminding Dr McCrea that devolution was a key element of the St Andrews Agreement. “All the political parties in the Assembly elections understood the importance of completing devolution.
“The Assembly has been up and running for nearly three years, and that business remains to be done. We believe that the confidence is there, and it is now time to summon leadership and courage and act,” he said.
Responding to Conservative MP Mark Harper, he said: “If we succeed with this, we will secure all the achievements of the peace process; if we fail, we will put many of them at risk.”
Mr Woodward avoided joining the criticism of Conservative spokesman on the North Owen Paterson, who has been attacked for meeting with the DUP and the Ulster Unionists last month.
Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael asked Mr Woodward if he would have believed he was engendering trust if “he had been caught out trying to construct a pan-Unionist alliance?”
Saying that Mr Carmichael “tempts me with the last part of his question”, Mr Woodward said he would “not make any attempt to secure any party advantage . . . we must put the interests of the people above any party”.