Gordon Brown was flying into Northern Ireland today in an attempt to prevent the growing Stormont stalemate developing into a crisis.

The Prime Minister was due to hold talks with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness after a gap in Executive meetings over the summer.

He was then expected to meet the leaders of the five main parties — including Alliance boss David Ford — to urge progress on the pivotal issue of policing and justice.

Following the recent Independent Monitoring Commission report, Mr Brown believes there should be no obstacle preventing the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster.

The party leaders, Mr Robinson, Gerry Adams, Sir Reg Empey and Mark Durkan as well as Mr Ford were poised to urge the Prime Minister for extra cash to help pay for the deferral of water charges for a further year.

And they have been attempting for several months to ensure the justice devolution is underpinned by full funding to pay for the new Department and a perceived shortfall in the policing budget. Mr Brown was also due this afternoon to directly address the 108 MLAs

The three-hour trip was also anticipated to involve a manufacturer in east Belfast where he will be met by Economy Minister Arlene Foster.

In his first visit back to the province since the major economic investment conference, Mr Brown was expected to urge the parties to complete the final phase of devolution and create confidence and stability in the political structures.

With the next scheduled meeting of the Executive, for this Thursday, still in doubt, the Northern Ireland Office has made public details of a new poll showing that 58% of people in the province support the devolution of policing and justice in the next 12 months. The figures support a separate poll earlier this year.

But there are other key issues, not least the controversial schools transfer reforms, Irish language legislation and the future of the national stadium at the Maze, which also need to be resolved.

Mr Ford said today: “It appears to me that although progress was being made by the DUP and Sinn Fein it slowed down last week and their respresentatives were talking us into a crisis over the weekend.

“While the devolution of policing and justice is important, it is absolutely vital that the Executive meets to deal with outstanding issues such as the school transfer reforms. Few parents of primary six pupils seem to think that devolving justice takes priority over urgent decisions on children’s futures.”

Mr Brown was arriving with his continued leadership of the Labour Party expected to be fortified by the support of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee.

The beleaguered premier was due to attend the NEC meeting which is expected to reject requests for leadership nomination forms from a number of MPs concerned that Mr Brown is failing to connect with voters and giving the impression of drift.

A Cabinet meeting was also on the cards followed by talks with the new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari before Mr Brown travelled into Belfast by mid-afternoon.

Mr Robinson has identified more than two dozen items which he argues the Executive has to deal with and hopes Thursday’s meeting will go ahead. But Sinn Fein has said insufficient progress has been made in on-going private talks with the DUP to make an Executive meeting worthwhile. “There is no point in taking part in a charade,” a Sinn Fein source said.