Arlene has faulty memory on policing and justice says Elliott.
Tom Elliott Ulster Unionist MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone said he is astonished at Arlene Foster and the DUP for their position on policing and Justice. The Ulster Unionist Party contends that it is actually the DUP who are blowing in the winds of political expediency on this issue.
In a statement Mr. Elliott said,
“Mrs. Foster’s tantrum cannot hide the fact that the Ulster Unionist Party has consistently stated its opposition to the devolution of policing and justice until such times as there would be community confidence in such a move. It was the DUP that negotiated St Andrews that included an explicit timetable for the devolution of these powers at St Andrews. If Mrs. Foster has forgotten, para. 7 of the St Andrews Agreement states that the devolution of policing and justice should occur “by May 2008”. This is the process which the DUP has accepted and is now working towards.
All this, of course, represents a considerable u-turn in DUP policy. Mrs. Foster now tells us that “sufficient community confidence” is required. The DUP’s 2003 Manifesto, however, had no time for such nuances:
The DUP opposes the devolution of Policing and Justice to the institutions created under the Belfast Agreement as decisions would be taken by Sinn Fein members like Gerry Kelly as Minister. (DUP 2003 Manifesto, p. 24.)
It is also somewhat ironic to hear Mrs. Foster give lectures to my Party on hypocrisy. Others might say that the definition of hypocrisy is to stand for election on the platform of one party, and then breezily move to another a few weeks after being elected. This, of course, might explain why she seems to forget what the DUP Manifesto said in 2003 – she fought that election on an Ulster Unionist Manifesto.
As for her comment that voters have given the UUP its ‘marching orders’ – it seems as if she has already forgotten Dromore, despite the pledge by other figures in her party that they would the lessons of that humiliating defeat. To quote Mrs. Foster, it does indeed seem to be the case that ‘you cannot believe a word they say’”.