Brown pledges cash to support Stormont police

Gordon Brown assured Northern Ireland's political leaders yesterday that he will stump up the cash needed to bring about the devolution of policing powers to Stormont.

Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the Prime Minister had given him personal assurances that the transfer of law and order responsibilities from Westminster would not fail due to a lack of financial support from the Treasury.

Mr Brown held talks with Mr McGuinness and Democratic Unionist First Minister Peter Robinson in Belfast throughout the day in a bid to resolve the increasingly bitter wrangle between Sinn Fein and the DUP over the move.

The three leaders will meet again at Downing Street today - an indication of No. 10's eagerness to secure a deal.

The issue of funding has been the main sticking point in progressing a move that is seen as one of the last pieces in the peace process jigsaw.

The DUP has insisted it will not approve devolution until the Treasury tables an appropriate cash package - thought to be in the region of £600 million - to support the region's new Justice Department.

However, while Sinn Fein acknowledges that funding is important, it believes Mr Robinson is using it as an excuse to delay the transfer in the face of resistance from hard-line elements within his ranks.

After the talks with the Prime Minister, Mr McGuinness said as far as he was concerned the issue of finances was no longer a sticking point.

But Mr Robinson did not share his counterpart's view that the law and order budget had been sorted. He said that, while progress had been made, there was still work to do to nail down all the money issues.

The talks came on the same day Conservative leader David Cameron appeared to remove another potential obstacle in the way of a deal, when he said he would be inclined to honour any financial commitment made by Mr Brown on policing if the Tories won the next election.

Relations between Stormont's partners in government have becoming increasingly fractious as the impasse over policing has continued. Mr Robinson yesterday rejected Sinn Fein claims that he was stalling on a deal to appease "angry men" in his ranks.

The tensions were also self evident in the Assembly chamber in the afternoon when Mr McGuinness reacted angrily when DUP backbencher Simon Hamilton referred to him as the "the deputy".

"I am not the deputy," the clearly irritated republican replied. "I am the Deputy First Minister in a department where there is equality between the First Minister and myself and don't you ever forget it!"