PM – NI deal “essential to securing future”

The agreement on the devolution of policing and justice powers in Northern Ireland is “essential to securing the future”, the Prime Minister has said. In a statement to the House of Commons about last week’s deal, Gordon Brown said people should not doubt its significance.Watch the statement (in the Commons Statements section)He set out the process that politicians have agreed on to devolve the powers to the Northern Ireland Executive by 12 April. The PM said: “The peace process has taken men and women of courage, who were prepared to set the past aside in the service of the future… Together we should complete the process of giving the government of Northern Ireland to the people of Northern Ireland. “For with policing and justice in the hands of the Northern Ireland Executive, the future of Northern Ireland is finally and truly in the hands of its...