House of Commons:The DUP and the Conservatives have signalled that Sinn Féin will need to resolve its position on policing in Northern Ireland as part of any agreement to restore a power-sharing Executive to Stormont.
There was relief for the British government yesterday when DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley welcomed the latest IMC report as evidence that unionist pressure on the IRA to end criminality was having an effect. There was apparent encouragement, too, as Dr Paisley appeared to keep all options open during a Commons debate on the legislation recalling the Assembly on May 15th - while mocking the November 24th "deadline" for the appointment of a new Executive.
However, during earlier Northern Ireland questions DUP chief whip Nigel Dodds told Northern Secretary Peter Hain it was "an absolute prerequisite to people being in government in any part of the United Kingdom that they support the police".
Mr Hain agreed support for the police was "the logical and only long-term sustainable position" for parties wishing to be in government - a position consistent with the British government's previous acceptance that Sinn Féin will only "sign up" and support the PSNI in the context of the eventual devolution of policing and justice powers to the Assembly.
But during the subsequent debate on Mr Hain's emergency Bill recalling the Assembly in what he called "new mode", Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman David Lidington insisted Sinn Féin must meet the challenge "to support the police, the courts and the rule of law" and move beyond the "robust debate" identified by the IMC to show it was "accepting the norms . . . and rules of the democratic process."
Mr Lidington also returned to a previous theme, telling Mr Hain he would eventually have to address the issue of "the status of the IRA", which Minister for Justice Michael McDowell only recently said had resources available "for the subversion of democracy".
Mr Lidington said he was prepared to accept the IMC view that the IRA no longer posed a terrorist threat to Northern Ireland.
However, this left everyone in the "odd situation" where the British government said the organisation was to be trusted while membership of it remained an offence in the UK and the Republic. Mr Lidington said this struck him as "somewhat inconsistent", warning Mr Hain that ministers "at some stage are going to have to think this through". He agreed with Sir Patrick Cormack that, alongside support for the police, IRA disbandment would be the biggest single gesture of reassurance to unionists.
Dr Paisley welcomed Mr Hain's Bill. He said if the IRA "changed" from its terrorism and criminality and was to "repent", then "they will be received in the Assembly on the same basis as everyone else".