Northern Ireland

NIO ministers directing civil servants in the north 'not compatible with GFA'

SDLP MP Claire Hanna
SDLP MP Claire Hanna SDLP MP Claire Hanna

CALLS for the UK government to provide ministerial direction to civil servants tasked with making "invidious" political decisions, has been branded 'incompatible' with the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.

SDLP MP Claire Hanna said any such move would not be acceptable, and said a "new form of shared sovereignty" must be considered if power-sharing does not return.

It came as the general secretary of civil servants union FDA made the call in a letter to  Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in which he expressed concern about the position senior civil servants have been placed amid the ongoing political impasse.

Dave Penman said in the letter that union members are facing making decisions that will have a detrimental impact on the most vulnerable in society as a result of a lack of devolved government, including cuts to vital services.

The DUP has said it will not return to form an Executive unless its concerns over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol are addressed, and has said the UK and EU's recent Windsor Framework deal on the protocol does not do so.

Mr Heaton-Harris has passed legislation at Westminster to give local civil servants more power to take decisions that would have been made by Stormont ministers.

However, there are concerns among civil servants over the expected "challenging" budget to be set this year by Mr Heaton-Harris.

In the letter, which was first reported by the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Penman said: "The FDA is certain you appreciate that no civil servant has accepted a post with the NICS (Northern Ireland Civil Service) with the intention of taking decisions that ought properly to be taken by democratically elected ministers.

"The current model places our members in an invidious position, requiring politically-impartial advisors and administrators to adopt a role that demands they take political decisions."

The letter added that civil servants were facing "exceptionally difficult decisions to be taken which fall far outside the scope of what should be decided by officials operating without the direction and control of a minister", and urged the NI Secretary to legislate to allow an Northern Ireland Office (NIO) minister to provide direction to NICS colleagues "so that decisions of a political nature are taken at the right level", with "suitable democratic accountability".

An NIO spokesperson said a restored Stormont Executive and Assembly "offers the most immediate way of delivering local governance and prosperity in Northern Ireland".

Responding to the call for UK ministerial oversight for civil servants, SDLP MP Claire Hanna said it would not be acceptable, and said a "new form of shared sovereignty" must be considered if power-sharing does not return.

"Civil servants, like so much of society, have been placed in an impossible and unacceptable position by the DUP’s Assembly boycott," she told the Irish News.

"They can’t and shouldn’t be expected to make decisions about every aspect of our lives.

"Decisions do need to be made though and the immediately available solution is for the DUP to get back to working with others to tackle the problems affecting people. If they won’t, Assembly reforms must follow to allow the rest of us to get on with things."

The South Belfast MP added: "But we should also be clear that one-sided direct rule simply isn’t compatible with the Agreement and if we reach that point then a new form of shared sovereignty is the only way to respect the multilateral spirit  that brought it about."