Nationalists slam office in Belfast for UK ministry

A DECISION by a Whitehall department to open offices in Belfast undermines Stormont, nationalist say.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is poised to recruit a small number of civil servants here to “help implement new Uk-wide investment programmes”.

But SDLP Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon expressed concern the Government will take unilateral decisions “ignoring the intricacies of devolution”.

“This move circumvents and undermines the core principle of power-sharing,” she said.

“These offices will not be accountable to people in Northern Ireland and they will not have to work in partnership with other parties to form common priorities.

“We can’t have a system of direct rule lite where London ministers ignore the priorities of people and parties here to pursue budget-busting sea bridges or tunnels and ignore our real needs.”

Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard said it was a “power grab” and an effort to “undermine the Good Friday Agreement and its institutions”.

He added: “The Executive and the Assembly are the only bodies with a mandate to make decisions for the people of the north on housing, communities and local government.

“The British Tory party has no mandate in Ireland.”

MHCLG said the UK Government was “fully committed to devolution in Northern Ireland and any suggestion to the contrary is wrong”.

And DUP Economy Minister Diane Dodds said: “Devolution doesn’t mean that we don’t have a national Government with national priorities, it means that we work together with our national Government.”