SHADOW Secretary of State Owen Paterson met key figures from Ulster's four main political parties yesterday in a bid to "push" forward devolution of policing and justice.
A Conservative Party spokesman said that Mr Paterson held a series of private meetings with First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, SDLP leader Mark Durkan and Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey.
The meetings were
primarily to discuss devolution of policing and justice, he said, and the party was pushing for "consensus and confidence" among the Ulster parties to facilitate it.
"We support devolution of policing and justice and want to see it happen," said a Conservative Party spokesman. "But to see it happen there must be consensus and confidence among the political parties of Northern Ireland. That is what we are pushing for."
A planned meeting between Mr Paterson and Mr Robinson at Stormont yesterday had been re-arranged to take place in the Robinson household, he confirmed.
A DUP party spokesman said Mr Robinson has cancelled public duties this week and is working from home as he deals with "family issues".
Just before Christmas Iris Robinson, wife of Peter and DUP MP for Strangford, shocked the political establishment by announcing her resignation from politics due to a long battle with depression and a series of hospital operations.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said he discussed policing and justice, among other matters, with Mr Paterson yesterday.
Sir Reg said he made it plain that his party was not happy with the way the devolution of the powers was being handled.
"Basically our position is clear and has been for some time, that we are very unsatisfied as to the way things are going on the formula that we have put forward – that we need proper discussion and agreement between the parties on a programme for government on policing and justice.
"This hasn't happened and you will be well aware of our attitude to the functioning of the Executive and the fact that if we can't deal with issues like education and local government, what confidence is there that we could handle the extremely sensitive issues involved in policing and justice?"
The UUP leader poured cold water on any expectation of devolution soon.
"There is a lot of work to be done before we can see these matters resolved," he said.
