Assembly to ease into action

By Mark Devenport BBC Northern Ireland political editor

The 108 members of the virtual assembly have yet to take their places but already the wrangling has begun.

The government had suggested that the politicians should hear a presentation from business leaders on the local economy and host a visit by the Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell, speaking on the advantages of devolution.

All this had been due to take place before a vote on first and deputy first minister, the main business which nationalists believe the new assembly should be concentrating on.

Scottish minister Jack McConnell will address assembly members

A first meeting of an interim business committee has rejected the government's ideas.

There is agreement that day one at the new Stormont will be short-lived, with the politicians registering as unionist, nationalist or other before adjourning.

Many will then head off to a garden party at Hillsborough, something some members of the public may find hard to square with the supposed urgent need for the politicians to get back to business.

However, the brief timetable for day one would have the advantage, from the government's perspective, that the national news outlets likely to cover the restoration of Stormont would not hang around for the politicians' inevitable failure to elect a first and deputy first minister.

Initial plans pencilled this vote in as late as Tuesday 23 May.

Padding out the proceedings with an economic debate and a visit from the Scottish first minister would have also served the government's agenda of steering the politicians away from immediate confrontation.

It would be a travesty if the parties in Northern Ireland were to reach an agreement in that assembly, for instance on water charging, and the government failed to give it life Peter Robinson

The raison d'etre for this experiment, after all, is that the politicians are meant to start dealing with important bread and butter issues and in the process, slowly but surely overcome their differences.

However, some local politicians feel patronised by this approach, and some business representatives were also a little wary of being drawn into the political quagmire.

So whilst day one is agreed, at the time of writing the shape of the rest of the Stormont proceedings remains to be decided.

Over and above the opening choreography, there remains a gap between the government and many of the parties over exactly how much power the new assembly should have.

The DUP deputy leader, Peter Robinson, says the government needs to go further than saying: "We shall take into account what the parties in Northern Ireland have said".

By way of example, the East Belfast MP says: "It would be a travesty if the parties in Northern Ireland were to reach an agreement in that assembly, for instance on water charging, and the government failed to give it life."

Members will attend a garden party at Hillsborough Castle

But the government rejected an amendment from the SDLP which would have enabled the assembly to put a hold on controversial measures like the re-organisation of local councils at least until the November deadline for the restoration of an executive.

Peter Hain says the local parties could stop legislation like the order abolishing selection in post-primary education if they hurry up and do a deal.

But his Conservative shadow David Lidington told the Inside Politics programme the deadline prescribed by the government is already so tight that it would be more realistic if the government put a freeze on controversial measures over the next seven months.

The chances of such a freeze seem pretty slim.

Despite protests from manufacturers and trade unionists, the government's twin-track approach of dangling the devolution carrot whilst waving a water charges and rates stick remains intact.

This week's IMC report has provided the government with a relatively positive springboard for 15 May.

But expect the wrangling about the choreography and the content of the virtual Assembly's proceedings to continue.