Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Empey has welcomed Government assurances that it is looking at ways to give the National Crime Agency some functionality in Northern Ireland, but in a way that does not require a legislative consent motion.

Speaking after receiving written answers to a series of questions he tabled regarding the implications if the National Crime Agency does not receive Executive support to operate in Northern Ireland, Lord Empey said:

“I can assure the Government that the Ulster Unionist Party is also ‘disappointed’ by the Northern Ireland Executive’s decision not to give legislative consent for the new National Crime Agency.

I welcome the Government’s statement that they are ‘committed to delivering a UK-wide crime fighting agency focussed on tackling serious, organised and complex crime.’

I also welcome the fact that the Government is “looking carefully at the provisions in Part One of the Crime and Courts Bill to see how they can best be modified to give the National Crime Agency some functionality in Northern Ireland, but in a way that does not require a legislative consent motion”. However, I would caution that Ulster Unionist Party is not merely seeking “some functionality” for the NCA in Northern Ireland.

Rather we are demanding the NCA operate fully in Northern Ireland in partnership with the PSNI to ensure that we in Northern Ireland have the same level of protection from serious and organised crime that will be enjoyed by our fellow citizens in the remainder of the United Kingdom.

“Our commitment to a UK-wide agency and to working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland to protect the people of Northern Ireland from the corrosive effects of serious, organised and complex crime has not diminished.”

I can assure the Government that the Ulster Unionist Party will hold them to that commitment.”