UUP MLAs who signed controversial petition of concern now back Doug Beattie's bid to raise child crime threshold
Two Ulster Unionist MLAs who recently signed a petition of concern to block a bid to raise the age at which children can be prosecuted have now voted against their leader to raise the age to 12.
Robbie Butler and Alan Chambers were among a number of the party’s MLAs who backed the proposal by Doug Beattie.
The move came after they caused uproar in the Assembly just a few weeks ago by agreeing to sign a DUP petition of concern to block an Alliance Party plan to raise the threshold. Use of the mechanism meant the proposal was doomed to fail regardless of the overall vote, if it could not get cross-community support.
UUP leader Jon Burrows and his deputy Diana Armstrong voted against Mr Beattie’s motion, having made clear they want the current threshold of 10 to remain. But it is understood they allowed their MLAs a free vote on the matter given the strength of views within the party.
The motion was overwhelmingly rejected – but raises questions about the willingness of UUP MLAs to back their leader, and seemingly the party membership, on key policy issues.
The original Alliance proposal would have meant that the age would rise to 14 with some exceptions for serious crimes like rape and murder.
Unionist parties felt the proposals were so dangerous they were willing to use the petition of concern to block them. However, the UUP had initially struggled to get enough of its MLAs to sign the motion.
Mr Butler and Mr Chambers then added their names, prompting fury from Alliance and the nationalist parties.
However, on Tuesday, they joined other UUP MLAs in backing Mr Beattie’s amendment – despite the fact it was doomed to fail.
Doug Beattie quit the UUP in May, launching a blistering attack on new leader Jon Burrows. After Tuesday’s vote he told the News Letter he was “grateful” to his former party colleagues “for their support”.
He said his plan would have allowed police to conduct investigations for 10 and 11 year olds, and set a “presumption” of 12 instead of 10 for criminal prosecutions.
The minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) will remain at 10.
The News Letter asked Mr Butler and Mr Chambers why they had voted to raise MACR to 12, after having signed the petition of concern just weeks ago. The MLAs were also asked if they accepted that the decision could be seen as siding with Doug Beattie over their party leader.
At the time of going to print neither man had replied.
During Assembly exchanges on the matter earlier this month, Sinn Fein MLA Emma Sheerin questioned the UUP leader’s claim that a 13 year old could be prosecuted for rape under Alliance plans, but not aiding and abetting rape – citing a recent case in England.
Ms Sheerin said: “Rape is included as an acceptable offence in this amendment. This is all a waste of time because they’ve already employed their POC and we’re not getting to deliver for children anyway”.
Mr Burrows replied: “The Member is quite wrong. Attention to detail when legislating is vital. Rape and attempted rape are included in some of the amendments. Aiding and abetting rape is not”.
Someone on the Alliance benches appeared to accuse the UUP leader of being “obsessed with rape”. He responded: “You say that I am obsessed with rape. I am obsessed by the fact that people want to legalise it”.
Alliance leader and justice minister Naomi Long, who backed the changes, responded “How dare you”.