Doug Beattie says the PSNI has been 'degraded' under Alliance - amid growing criticism of justice minister Naomi Long
Pressure is growing on the justice minister over police funding after the Chief Constable publicly defied her department over his approach to securing more cash – and the Police Federation chair has said Naomi Long “needs to do more”.
The UUP’s Doug Beattie says the PSNI has been “slowly degraded” on Naomi Long and the Alliance Party’s watch – and said every time the minister has faced scrutiny on policing, she has dodged it by branding it “an operational matter”.
However, the justice minister has doubled down on her position on operational independence, with a party spokesperson telling the News Letter that it is “bizarre” that any party, but particularly the UUP, “is arguing for ministerial interference in operational matters”.
The DUP’s Trevor Clarke has also accused the minister of becoming involved in a “spat created by a petty focus on perceived protocols” – but agreed with her that the funding provided to her department was not enough.
At Thursday’s policing board meeting, the Chief Constable said he disagreed strongly “with any rebuke about me approaching the Prime Minister” – saying it was something he was entitled to do, and he denied breaching any protocol or principle.
Jon Boutcher said he would communicate with both Stormont and Westminster “as I see fit – and I don’t need authority or approval to do so”.
The ongoing row started last month when a letter, leaked to the News Letter, from justice permanent secretary Hugh Widdis to Mr Boutcher said he had undermined the authority of the minister and the wider executive, by outlining to the prime minister the financial and staffing issues facing the force.
The force currently has around 4,500 “deployable” officers out of 6,300, once sickness and officers on restricted duties are taken into account. The Chief Constable wants 7,000.
Speaking to the News Letter, the Chair of the NI Police Federation – which represents rank and file officers – was asked if he is confident that Naomi Long is doing everything she can to deliver for police officers.
Liam Kelly said: “I think she needs to do more”. He drew a comparison with the health minister who, he said, “made it abundantly clear that he wouldn’t support [the budget]. She could have done likewise – and unfortunately she didn’t”.
Ulster Unionist justice spokesperson Doug Beattie says he has “no trust or confidence in Naomi Long presiding over the justice system anymore” – and criticised the letter from her permanent secretary to Mr Boutcher as a “deliberate rebuke”.
He said that apart from a short interlude where Claire Sugden was in charge, the Department of Justice has been under the Alliance Party’s watch since it was devolved.
“The police has been under the Alliance Party’s watch and the police has been slowly degraded over the years. The argument that the justice department is not getting the funds that they deserve is a fair argument. But even when they are getting funds – where are those funds going – where is the priority?”
The UUP justice spokesman said every time Mrs Long has faced scrutiny on policing, and says “that’s an operational matter” – what she is basically saying is “I’m not going to stand up for the police on this issue”.
The former UUP boss highlighted Robin Swann’s actions earlier this year when has asked the various parts of the health service whether they could work with the Executive’s budget – and says Naomi Long did not do that same with the police.
“There was a feeling within the police that because the policing board deal with the police in the main, and Naomi is more hands on in the Prison Service that she kind of just let it drift away from her, and I think that’s what the problem is”, he said.
The DUP’s lead member on the Policing Board Trevor Clarke said the Chief Constable was right “not to back down in the face of attempts to silence his voice”.
He added: “We support the Justice Minister when she says that the budget allocated to her Department is inadequate. There is no disagreement on that position, but instead this is a spat created by a petty focus on perceived protocols and apparently placing that ahead of the need to secure the funding that police officers need”.
In a statement, the Alliance Party said Naomi Long “is on record repeatedly regarding the seriousness of the financial pressures facing the Department of Justice and how those will inevitably impact frontline services, in particular policing, and has sought to do all in her power to reverse that decline”.
The party accused the UUP of arguing more money should go to health in recent budget negotiations, “with the consequence even less would have been available for policing”.
Alliance said “the Chief Constable is rightly operationally accountable to the Board. It is bizarre any party, but particularly the UUP, is arguing for ministerial interference in operational matters. It would appear what Doug Beattie lacks most is not confidence in the Minister, but an even cursory understanding of the basic tripartite arrangements governing policing”.