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| Sinn Féin to oppose welfare bill in Northern Ireland Assembly | Sinn Féin to oppose welfare bill in Northern Ireland Assembly |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has said the Northern Ireland Assembly is facing a "very serious crisis" over the issue of welfare reform. | Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has said the Northern Ireland Assembly is facing a "very serious crisis" over the issue of welfare reform. |
| His party is to oppose the passage of the welfare bill after accusing the DUP of acting in bad faith on the issue. | His party is to oppose the passage of the welfare bill after accusing the DUP of acting in bad faith on the issue. |
| DUP leader Peter Robinson described Sinn Féin's statement as "dishonourable and ham-fisted". | |
| Welfare reform was the issue that threatened the future of power-sharing at Stormont last year. | Welfare reform was the issue that threatened the future of power-sharing at Stormont last year. |
| 'Profound implications' | |
| The five main parties reached broad agreement on 23 December on a number of key issues, including welfare. | The five main parties reached broad agreement on 23 December on a number of key issues, including welfare. |
| It followed 12 weeks of talks involving the Northern Ireland parties and the British and Irish governments. | |
| However, Mr McGuinness, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, said the DUP had reneged on its commitments in the Stormont House Agreement to protect the most vulnerable people in society. | However, Mr McGuinness, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, said the DUP had reneged on its commitments in the Stormont House Agreement to protect the most vulnerable people in society. |
| Mr McGuinness described it as a "very serious situation" that could have "profound implications" for both the Stormont House Agreement and the Northern Ireland political institutions. | |
| "At Stormont House, the five parties agreed a series of measures to protect the vulnerable and safeguard current and future welfare claimants under the control of the executive," he said. | |
| 'U-turn' | |
| "However, the DUP have acted in bad faith and are now reneging on their commitments to protect the most vulnerable. It is their intention to provide only partial protection to current recipients of benefit and no protection whatsoever for future claimants. | "However, the DUP have acted in bad faith and are now reneging on their commitments to protect the most vulnerable. It is their intention to provide only partial protection to current recipients of benefit and no protection whatsoever for future claimants. |
| "That is totally unacceptable." | "That is totally unacceptable." |
| Analysis: Gareth Gordon, BBC NI political correspondent | |
| Perhaps it was all too good to be true - ideological enemies setting aside vast differences over welfare reform on Christmas Eve and thereby saving the Stormont Assembly by the skin of their teeth. | |
| The Stormont House Agreement magically opened up a new vista, where millions of pounds from Westminster would now fund a range of initiatives and in turn the Northern Ireland Executive would be granted the power to set its own rate of corporation tax. | |
| It all seemed to be going swimmingly right up to and past Sinn Féin's annual conference, or Ard Fheis, at the weekend when the party championed its success in ensuring protections were written into the deal to protect the vulnerable hit by welfare reform. | |
| All bets are now off. Stormont is once more under threat, the word "crisis" for once does not look out of place, and a solution is not obvious. | |
| A weekend is indeed a long time in Northern Ireland politics. | |
| SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell welcomed what he said was a U-turn by Sinn Féin. | |
| "Martin McGuinness stood at his ard fheis [party conference] on Friday and championed the protections that this bill had put in place. What has changed in 48 hours?" he asked. | |
| "Sinn Féin have recklessly and blindly followed the DUP without securing firm guarantees. Our amendments were a way of doing that and I'm glad today that Sinn Féin have woken up to the reality and joined us in our principled opposition to this attack on the vulnerable." | |
| 'Very troubled waters' | |
| However, DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson told the Radio Ulster Talkback programme: "We really do not want to see the institutions placed under threat, but I think that if Sinn Féin block the welfare reform bill that has massive consequences for the politics of Northern Ireland. | |
| "We should not underestimate the significance of all of this," Mr Donaldson added. | |
| "If they block the Welfare Reform Bill, then I am bound to say they are reneging on the Stormont House Agreement. If that happens, we are in very, very troubled waters." | |
| Petition of concern | |
| Mr McGuinness said Sinn Féin was now issuing a petition of concern to try to stop the bill's passage in the assembly. | |
| If a petition of concern is presented to the assembly speaker any vote taken by MLAs will have to have support from both unionist and nationalists. | |
| A proposed legislation or motions will then only pass if supported by a weighted majority (60%) of members voting, including at least 40% of each of the nationalist and unionist designations present and voting. | |
| Effectively this means that, provided enough MLAs from a given community agree, that community can exercise a veto over the assembly's decisions. | |
| Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt was asked how he would react if the SDLP signed Sinn Féin's petition of concern to block the Welfare Reform Bill. | |
| Mr Nesbitt replied: "I wouldn't be particularly surprised because they're under extreme political pressure so to do, but if they do it, they know what they're doing. | |
| "They are bringing, potentially, the entire house down." | |
| Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy, said: "We have tried to resolve this over the past number of days, we had a series of meetings with them [the DUP] last week, Martin McGuinness travelled up to Stormont ahead of the ard fheis on Friday - though he was busy in Derry - and sat for three hours while nobody from the DUP turned up. | |
| "We have been trying to communicate with them over the weekend and it leaves us now in the situation where we have no other option but to vote against the welfare bill and seek the support of other parties to ensure it doesn't go forward." | |
| 'Grossly disingenuous' | |
| Sinn Féin and the SDLP had opposed welfare reform plans agreed at Westminster, but it had been thought that the issue had been resolved by the Stormont House Agreement. | Sinn Féin and the SDLP had opposed welfare reform plans agreed at Westminster, but it had been thought that the issue had been resolved by the Stormont House Agreement. |
| In agreeing to move forward on welfare reform, the parties in Northern Ireland agreed to introduce a number of new schemes to ensure additional financial support was directed to those set to lose out by changes to the benefits system. | In agreeing to move forward on welfare reform, the parties in Northern Ireland agreed to introduce a number of new schemes to ensure additional financial support was directed to those set to lose out by changes to the benefits system. |
| Stewart Dickson of the Alliance Party said Sinn Féin now had "egg on their face". | |
| "It is grossly disingenuous of Sinn Fein to say they didn't know what was going to happen and that they didn't know what these figures actually meant," he said. | |
| "What planet is Sinn Féin on? From 6 April we face a further £114m fine from Westminster. The whole situation is now in crisis today. | |
| "They knew exactly what they were signing up to during the talks." |