Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“What a commentary on our public and policing affairs that an Old Bailey Bomber and prison escapee will sit on the selection panel to pick the new Chief Constable.
“It is little wonder that the PSNI leadership is so beholden to Sinn Fein when we remember that a practitioner and justifier of IRA terrorism, Gerry Kelly, will hold such a position.
“This could only happen in a Northern Ireland shaped by the perverse process of constant pandering to republicanism.
“It should not be forgotten that Sinn Fein buy in to policing was sold to Unionists as a victory. Looking at the sway that Republicans hold over policing it hardly looks like a victory now. Nor should it be forgotten that when I brought forward a Bill which would have removed Gerry Kelly from the Policing Board it was defeated by the pan-Nationalist/Alliance Party coalition.”