New political row at Stormont
MARTIN McGuinness has bemoaned being unable to develop a proper working relationship with Peter Robinson.
The latest row between the First Minister and Deputy First Minister comes as a planned meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown over the issue of the devolution of policing and justice was cancelled.
Intense discussions have been ongoing in recent weeks on the matter.
In an outburst at Stormont, Mr McGuinness blamed the DUP for the short-notice cancellation and urged his DUP counterpart to get his “act together”.
However, speaking to reporters after a meeting at PSNI headquarters in east Belfast, Mr Robinson claimed there were differences between the estimates of the Treasury and local criminal justice agencies over future budgets.
On the deteriorating working relationship between the two leaders, Mr McGuinness said: “Since we came back from the United States we’ve had no effort whatsoever made by his advisors and his key people who have been working with my advisors to get together to discuss any of these matters.”
He added: “All of this comes against the backdrop of what I consider very negative contributions made by senior members of the DUP – including the scandalous argument put forward by Peter Robinson, in the aftermath of his holiday in Florida, that we should effectively dump the St Andrews Agreement out the window.
“Something that isn’t going to happen.”
Tensions between the two leaders have been further strained after the DUP leader called for a change to the community designation voting system at Stormont earlier this month.
In contrast, the cordial relationship between former First Minister Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness led to the pair being nicknamed the “Chuckle Brothers”.
Mr Robinson replaced Mr Paisley as First Minister in June last year.
