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SDLP, British near compromise on policing

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Anne Cadwallader

BELFAST — The SDLP and the British government are close to reaching a deal on policing, according to the SDLP deputy leader, Seamus Mallon, who said that progress had been made at talks involving the pro-Agreement parties on Thursday.

There were just a few issues to be resolved, he said, and these could be dealt with by June. Mallon said the British government had publicly recognized, for the first time, that changes might be necessary to the legislation underpinning police reform and not only the implementation plan.

This greatly increased the chances of an agreement between the SDLP and the British, he said. Such a deal, he said, "could well have been done on Thursday. I believe there’s a recognition now right across the board that the British government in terms of the legislation setting up the Patten recommendations made something of a mess of it.

"I think that’s the reality and there are one, two, maybe three major issues to be dealt with."

Mallon was challenged by Sinn Féin’s spokesman on policing, Gerry Kelly, to say how the British position had been altered. "Seamus Mallon is saying that the British government moved on the policing issue last Thursday. What was the movement?

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"And, more importantly, what areas still need to be resolved for the SDLP?" Kelly said. It was widely recognized, he said, that "in crucial areas, including powers of inquiry, the powers of the ombudsman and the powers of the policing board," amending legislation was necessary.

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