“Let me take this particular issue away..”

When the Speaker informed the NI Assembly yesterday that Peter Robinson had decided to return “to exercise the functions of the office of First Minister”, a point of order from the SDLP’s Alex Attwood – calling for the publication of legal opinion which Peter Robinson has stated clears his name – was met with short shrift, “Those are matters for the First Minister to deal with.” As the BBC noted. However, today in the Assembly, Alex Attwood was back. This time armed with a copy of Erskine May. And he got a much different response from the Speaker. As this clip from BBC NI’s Stormont Live shows. Of course the NI Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, has already stated that he thinks that the First Minister “has cleared his name.” Although, it’s not clear whether he’s seen that legal opinion…

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