The Northern Ireland Assembly has approved the Hillsborough Castle Agreement on devolution by a vote of 88 to 17. This means that control of the police and judiciary will now move from London to the Northern Ireland capital Belfast. The region’s first minister of justice will be appointed on 12 April.

The agreement was signed by three of the four main parties in the Assembly’s executive: the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party. The fourth party, the Ulster Unionist Party, was the only one not to sign. It said it would rather see the Assembly settle other issues before having to deal with the region’s policing.
 
The agreement is a milestone in the peace process that began in 1998 between the region’s unionists and republicans. Analysts say that if the negotiations had failed it would have led to the fall of the government and an upsurge in violence.
 
Republicans want a united Ireland and unionists want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. The political split usually runs along religious lines, with Catholics on the republican side and Protestants on the unionist side.