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RHI: NI First Minister Arlene Foster 'resists quest to build political gallows' | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A vote of no confidence in Northern Ireland's First Minister, Arlene Foster, has been defeated in the assembly. | |
Stormont's political institutions are under threat of a meltdown in a row over a botched heating scheme. | |
Members of the assembly walked out of the chamber twice on Monday morning. | |
However, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said Sinn Féin - partners in government with the DUP - would not be pulling the plug on Stormont. | |
Mrs Foster, the DUP leader, said she would resist her opponents' "fevered quest" to build her "political gallows". | |
She exclaimed "trial by television" as she faced a no-confidence vote over the botched Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (RHI) that could cost taxpayers £400m. | |
In an interview with the BBC's Stephen Nolan on Thursday, Jonathan Bell, a former enterprise minister, broke ranks with his DUP colleagues and made a number of sensational claims about how the controversial scheme was handled. | |
The RHI was set up by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Deti) under the stewardship of Mrs Foster in 2012 to encourage businesses and other non-domestic users to move from using fossil fuels to renewable heating systems. | The RHI was set up by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Deti) under the stewardship of Mrs Foster in 2012 to encourage businesses and other non-domestic users to move from using fossil fuels to renewable heating systems. |
But flaws in setting the scheme's subsidy rate left it open to abuse as claimants could earn more cash the more fuel they burned. | But flaws in setting the scheme's subsidy rate left it open to abuse as claimants could earn more cash the more fuel they burned. |
The scheme was finally halted early this year, by which time its overall cost had reached £1.18bn. | The scheme was finally halted early this year, by which time its overall cost had reached £1.18bn. |
About £20m a year for the next two decades could be taken from the Northern Ireland budget to cover the overspend. | About £20m a year for the next two decades could be taken from the Northern Ireland budget to cover the overspend. |
"They can't gang up and kick out the elected leader of unionism," Mrs Foster told the Northern Ireland Assembly. | |
"I am here and I will be staying here," she said. "I have acted with the highest level of integrity." | |
She also treated her political opponents in the SDLP, Ulster Unionists, Alliance and TUV, to a razor-sharp tongue lashing. The gloves were off. | |
She said she was "glad" that Colum Eastwood, SDLP, and Mike Nesbitt, UUP, "aren't very good" at opposition. | |
The Alliance Party had, in the past, acted in a more "considered and responsible way", she said, "but that was under a different leader". | |
"No doubt, at some point, we will hear today this decision is related to the flags protest," she said. | |
Mrs Foster said the motion to bring her down was "doomed" and that this was a "coup d'état more worthy of a Carry On Film". | |
Earlier, a series of stormy arguments and walk-outs threatened to lurch Northern Ireland into a fresh constitutional crisis. | |
The row that erupted in the assembly on Monday was over Mrs Foster's decision to "fly solo" . | |
She prepared to make a ministerial statement without the support of the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin, with whom she shares the joint office. | |
Analysis - BBC News NI political correspondent Enda McClafferty | Analysis - BBC News NI political correspondent Enda McClafferty |
When it works, it shows politics in Northern Ireland is moving in the right direction but when it goes wrong it reopens old wounds and leaves the institutions hanging by a thread. | When it works, it shows politics in Northern Ireland is moving in the right direction but when it goes wrong it reopens old wounds and leaves the institutions hanging by a thread. |
Joint ministerial authority means Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness have equal power and cannot work in isolation. They have no choice. | Joint ministerial authority means Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness have equal power and cannot work in isolation. They have no choice. |
That's why Arlene Foster's decision to make a statement without the support of her partner in office today has plunged Stormont into a fresh crisis. | That's why Arlene Foster's decision to make a statement without the support of her partner in office today has plunged Stormont into a fresh crisis. |
Joint office is the bond which holds Stormont together, it now appears to be melting fast in this heating scandal. | Joint office is the bond which holds Stormont together, it now appears to be melting fast in this heating scandal. |
The other parties walked out of the chamber and stormed to the press microphones to voice their anger. | |
Mr McGuinness made it clear that Mrs Foster did not speak for him or with him. He said she would be acting without his approval or authority. | |
Earlier, he had warned that a DUP-established inquiry into the so-called "cash for ash" affair would have no credibility. | |
He also said that there would be grave consequences if the DUP took a unilateral approach and Mrs Foster made a ministerial statement without his support. | |
Speaker Robin Newton, DUP, found himself at the eye of the storm, facing a barrage from politicians over the right of Mrs Foster to make the statement without the support of her deputy first minister. | |
But he went ahead and called on Mrs Foster to speak. | |
She ended up preaching to the converted as nearly all of the MLAs from the other parties left the chamber again. | |
Her DUP colleagues heard her say that not introducing cost-control measures in a botched heating scheme was the "greatest political regret of my life". | |
It was not clear whether she was speaking in her capacity as first minister or whether it was personal. | |
The DUP accused the other parties of "running away" when they left the chamber and Mrs Foster asked: "Where are they? The people of Northern Ireland deserve better than this." | |
The other parties rolled their eyes. | |
Eamonn McCann, People Before Profit, said there was "no shortage of clowns but no ring master" at Stormont. | |
"We are now in La La land and limbo land," he said. | |
TUV leader Jim Allister said: "I know it's pantomime season but what has happened today is beyond farce." | |