‘Sinn Fein trying to force snap election’
SINN Fein is hoping to force an early election in a bid to take the First Minister’s role, the DUP have claimed.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness ferociously attacked First Minister Peter Robinson on Wednesday at Stormont, saying that he had been unable to develop a close working relationship with the DUP leader.
Asked by the News Letter whether he believed Mr McGuinness was trying to force a crisis in the Executive, Mr Robinson said: “A blind man on a galloping horse can see what he is doing.”
A DUP source said that some in the party believe republicans may be hoping to create a row to force an early election, but a Sinn Fein spokesman stressed that the party was focused on devolving justice powers.
If Mr McGuinness were to resign as Deputy First Minister, Mr Robinson would automatically be removed from office and their replacements would have to be chosen within seven days.
If that did not happen, then the Secretary of State would have to set a date for an election, as he is no longer able to suspend Stormont under legislative changes made in recent years.
However, while Sinn Fein would stand to benefit electorally in a snap election, the party would also face the prospect of Jim Allister’s TUV making substantial gains on the DUP, something which would make their goal of devolving policing and justice less likely.
The Executive will meet today to discuss a number of crucial financial issues, including how to balance the budget.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey, who sits in the Executive, said that the open row backed up what he has been saying for months about the “dysfunctional” nature of the Executive.
In a statement last night, Mr Robinson responded to the Deputy First Minister’s “regrettable” attack, saying that Mr McGuinness “continues to publicly make intemperate personal remarks about me”.
He said: “I am surprised that he believes such attacks are likely to help us resolve the issues that we presently face. I am not going to play his game by responding in kind.
“I will not allow the Press to characterise his behaviour as a row between us. It requires both parties to be making nasty and provocative remarks to make it a row. This once again is a one-sided nasty attack.”
Mr Robinson then described Mr McGuinness as “the deputy”, a term which Ian Paisley often used when referring to Mr McGuinness, and called on him to “try and control himself, especially when in public”.
Sir Reg said that the two men were “at each other’s throats” but pledged that his party would do what it could to make the Executive work, something he said was difficult when Sinn Fein and the DUP “have shut us out of it from the day and hour it started”.
“What have I been telling you guys for months about the Executive? I’ve been trying to explain to people how dysfunctional it is and now it’s out in the open,” he told the News Letter.
“I watched the two men in New York last week as part of the team representing Northern Ireland at the Bill Clinton meeting and McGuinness was saying how well they got on.
“In your pages in recent days you have been publishing details of office costs and what it costs the taxpayer to keep this place. The truth is that people deserve better than what they are getting.
“Instead of focusing on issues like the economy, we are diverted away in a sterile argument over the devolution of policing. I would have to ask: If you came from outer space to Northern Ireland tonight, would you devolve policing and justice to that squad?”
Speaking at Stormont yesterday, Mr McGuinness said: “I have to record my annoyance at the fact I have not been able to develop a close working relationship with Peter Robinson.
“That is through no deficiency or lack of effort on my part.
“The DUP need to shake themselves and they have to realise that if we are to move forward we have to move forward on the basis of equality and partnership.”
Last night a Sinn Fein spokesman said that the party’s focus was on devolving policing and justice “as quickly as possible”. Asked about an election, he said that the party “always had to be prepared for an election”.
Alliance leader David Ford said that while people did not expect Mr McGuinness and Mr Robinson to be “best mates”, it was important that the pair could work together.
“Their parties made a commitment at St Andrews and, following the Assembly elections, people expect them to stick by that commitment. The public expect them to act like adults, not spoilt children.”
