DUP - Reserve not a precondition

The full time reserve is to be phased out in 2011

DUP leader Peter Robinson has signalled that retaining the PSNI full-time reserve is not a pre-condition for the devolution of policing and justice.

But the first minister made clear that the issue of what happens to members of the reserve must be resolved.

He made the comments after a 90-minute meeting with the Chief Constable.

On Monday, his DUP colleague Jeffrey Donaldson said he thought the party would not agree to devolution if the reserve was disbanded.

Mr Donaldson later indicated that the satisfactory resolution of the full-time reserve was key to building community confidence.

Following the meeting on Wednesday, Mr Robinson said decisions about police resources were "an operational matter" for Matt Baggott.

He added the key issue was that the PSNI had the necessary resources and experience to carry out its duties in order to gain public confidence.

He urged Mr Baggott to make use of the experience of the remaining 440 members of the full-time reserve.

'Office boys'

The phasing out of the police reserve - an auxiliary group of officers who support the regular force in mainly security-related work - was one of the recommendations of the Patten report which led to major reforms on policing in Northern Ireland.

Reacting to Mr Robinson's comments, TUV leader Jim Allister said: "The DUP have shamefully - within the space of 48 hours - moved to the position of saying that the police reserve must be retained as a precondition to now saying that 'provided they are turned into office boys, we're prepared to dump them'.

"It tells us what most of us have known for some time, as far as the DUP is concerned, about the prioritising of clinging to office rather than taking a principled stand - on anything."

Meanwhile, Alliance leader David Ford has welcomed Mr Robinson's comments on the full time reserve.

He said: "Peter Robinson's statement this afternoon recognising the operational independence of the Chief Constable is very important."

'Deep trouble'

The DUP had listed retaining the reserve as a confidence-building measure necessary for the devolution of policing and justice.

However, Mr Baggott reiterated his view on Tuesday that there is no operational need to keep the remaining reserve officers.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott said the reserve was no longer needed

In recent days, there have been increasingly bitter exchanges between the DUP and Sinn Fein over the devolution issue.

Sinn Fein have accused the DUP of raising unnecessary obstructions, while the DUP have insisted they will not be blackmailed.

Mr Robinson's comments came on the same day that Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness warned of "deep trouble" for the political process unless a date for transferring the powers from Westminster to Stormont is agreed by Christmas.

Mr McGuinness said political leadership was needed to confront the "hostile forces opposed to the process".

He was speaking at a news conference following a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council, also attended by Mr Robinson and Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

Mr Robinson did not appear at the news conference.

The Sinn Fein deputy leader told journalists that he and Mr Robinson had briefed the assembly review committee on Tuesday about the outcome of their "protracted" negotiations about a financial package.

Mr McGuinness said Prime Minister Gordon Brown had made it clear that Stormont would not get a penny of the promised £1bn deal without devolving policing and justice powers.

He said the British and US governments had made clear they wanted agreement on the devolution of policing and justice powers by Christmas.

His comments were echoed by Mr Martin, who said he wanted to see the transfer of powers as soon as possible.