Pairs, Peelers and Preconditions

Tomorrow MLAs are due a late night as they will be voting on the Justice Bill, the measure which is meant to pave the way for the transfer of justice powers. The voting coinicided with the latest Assembly road show due to take place in South Antrim. Stormont officials had hoped to arrange a Westminster style pairing system, so that panel members wouldn't have to worry about their parties missing out on their votes back in the chamber. But the idea didn't catch on either because the Bill is deemed too important or because it's harder to apply pairing to the five party system than the Westminster government and opposition.

As a result the South Antrim roadshow has been postponed. The last thing the Assembly authorities wanted was a repeat of the debacle in east Belfast when MLAs didn't turn up for a roadshow as they were busy voting. Another roadshow is due to be held in Downpatrick on Thursday. Both Margaret Ritchie and Caitriona Ruane had been predicted to be on the panel, but now it appears that the Education Minister won't be able to attend. Was the timing, two days ahead of the new transfer tests, not to her liking?

(UPDATE: Since I wrote that last line the minister's officials have explained that she will be attending a British Irish council meeting, a dynamic organisation which last updated its website on 26th September 2008)

Over the weekend there was more fallout from Matt Baggott's decision to push ahead with the phasing out of the full time police reserve. Jim Allister called him a "political lackey".

Under pressure from the TUV leader, the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson appeared to make the retention of the full time reserve a "deal breaker" during an interview with the Nolan show. However this afternoon on Stormont Live Mr Donaldson appeared to shift ground indicating that his party wanted the 150 or so members of the reserve who want to stay on to be found a berth in the PSNI. He suggested this was more important than the retention of the reserve per se.

No doubt the DUP's critics will portray this as a hasty U turn, but it looks like the avnue down which the problem might be resolved, although given the strict rules surrounding PSNI recruitment it's far from certain whether it can be achieved.

The fall out over the full time reserve (including a Friday evening during which the DUP appear to have been completely blind sided by the Chief Constable) contributed to the notion that we may soon be in "free fall". However the First and Deputy First are continuing to go about their business, meeting the SDLP today, an Assembly Committee tomorrow and probably the Prime Minister later this week. So on this level it doesn't feel as if we are in breakdown territory, heading for an early Stormont election.

Another fall out from the TUV conference has been Jim Allister's attack on the DUP for allegedly conniving in the rule change which will allow the biggest party at Stormont to automatically provide the First Minister. After St. Andrews, the rules were changed so that Ian Paisley did not have to stand for election as part of a team with Martin McGuinness. But whilst the reform spared a few Paisley blushes, it did not restrict candidacy for the First Minister's position to parties from the largest designation. If unionism splits three ways in a future Assembly election, the new rules mean that Sinn Fein is in pole position for the First Minister's job.

In response to Jim Allister's criticism, a DUP spokesman argued that "it was only at St Andrews that the possibility, for the first time, was raised of the First Minister automatically coming from the largest party from the largest designation, but that proposal was not faithfully implemented when Parliament passed the legislation which was intended to give effect to the St Andrews Agreement."

Which begs the question, what were the DUP's MPs doing whilst legislation which they now say didn't reflect St. Andrews went through the Commons?

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