Northern Ireland Editor of the Belfast Telegraph & Sunday Independent. Author of Burned: The Inside Story of the Cash-for-Ash Scandal. Any views mine alone.
Sam McBride
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Last year, Jon Boutcher said the budget Stormont gave him meant it was "probably going to get worse before it gets better". He specifically highlighted "our ability to deal with large-scale public disorder". Stormont then went on to find money to hike every MLA's pay by £14,000.
A really ominous sign about the capabilities of the PSNI, whose Chief Constable has for years been begging Stormont to properly fund it: Just hours after serious racist violence broke out, already the PSNI can't cope and is requesting mutual aid support from GB police forces.
