Sir Reg clarifies 'puppet' comments
ULSTER Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey has said that his recent comments about a "puppet" Justice Minister were not an attack on the Alliance Party, which is tipped for the role.
Speaking yesterday, Sir Reg said that comments at his party conference last weekend were meant to explain that the Alliance Party did not have an electoral right to a minister’s post, which he said left their appointment “hostage” to decisions by the DUP and Sinn Fein.
“In my speech to my party conference on Saturday, I referred to the proposals from the DUP and Sinn Fein for the identification of a Justice Minister,” said Sir Reg.
“David Ford said that this could be a thinly-veiled attack on his party. It is not. This has nothing to do with the integrity of his party on anybody in it.”
Sir Reg said that the system being proposed could result in an Alliance nominee being supported by the DUP and Sinn Fein when Alliance “has no democratic entitlement” to a place on the Executive.
“This makes the minister effectively a hostage to those two parties as the Justice Minister would not be there as of right,” he said.
The UUP leader also said he believed that a legal clause had been in place which would allow the DUP and Sinn Fein to dismiss a minister appointed in such a process.
“That is why I used the term ‘puppet Minister’,” he added.
After Sir Reg’s speech last weekend, Mr Ford responded by saying that his party had made it clear over a year ago that there was no possibility of an Alliance Justice Minister unless they had full ministerial responsibilities.
“Since then, the Act passed at Westminster makes it clear that the Minister of Justice will be a full minister, with all that implies in terms of their proper role in the Executive and in collective decisions,” he said.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
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