Prime Minister Gordon Brown will visit Northern Ireland on Monday as the deadlock on policing and justice powers deepens.

News of his visit to Stormont came just hours after it was confirmed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also plans a trip to the province in coming days.

The big-hitter politicians are making arrangements to fly in as the DUP and Sinn Fein are at loggerheads over the transfer of policing and justice responsibilities from London to Belfast.

DUP resistance to the transfer of policing and justice powers hardened last night as senior members of the party, including Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster and MPs Nigel Dodds and Gregory Campbell, supported First Minister Peter Robinson after he insisted the time was not right for the switch-over.

Mrs Foster and Mr Dodds issued a hard-hitting statement after Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward warned at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that further delays risked the loss of overseas investment. Mrs Clinton is due in Northern Ireland on October 12 to meet political leaders. American economic envoy Declan Kelly, who confirmed her plans to visit, said yesterday stability and progress in the political institutions was key for US investment.

In response to Mr Woodward’s comments, Mr Dodds said: “It is frankly laughable to see the Secretary of State behaving in this manner. He is opening himself up to public ridicule with puerile comments like this.

“Such tactics will change nothing about our approach towards the devolution of policing and justice powers.”

The DUP deputy leader said companies made their decisions after reflecting on labour costs and office rent.

“The notion that investors will be taking into consideration whether or not we have a Policing and Justice Minister is utterly and completely absurd. I think Shaun Woodward knows as much himself,” he added.

Mrs Foster said she had met hundreds of potential investors around the world and not one had raised the issue of policing and justice with her.

“Not one business figure or investor has ever said to me: ‘I am holding off investing in Northern Ireland because the devolution of policing powers to the Assembly has not happened yet’,” she said.

“The DUP’s position on this issue will not be changing, despite the deployment of cack-handed efforts by the Secretary of State to try and force the issue.

“We will only assent to devolution of these powers when the conditions are right, including the provision of an adequate financial package and the establishment of broad community confidence.”

Mr Woodward maintained the final stage of the devolution process was the “critical last step” which would signal “enduring sta

bility” in Northern Ireland. “A move which, in seeking the confidence of the communities of Northern Ireland, also sends a signal of confidence from Northern Ireland to the world,” he said.

A Northern Ireland Office spokeswoman said his view was based on many conversations with senior opinion formers in the US.

“As Declan Kelly, the US special envoy, said today, a key element in creating an environment for inward investment is stability and progress in the political institutions,” she added.

With a Westminster election next year and uncertainty over the plans of any new Government, further unresolved political wrangling could prompt a real crisis in the devolved institutions.

Mr McGuinness wants a decision on policing and justice by Christmas, but the DUP leader is seeking to ensure that sufficient community confidence exists and the funds are put in place to guarantee local policing and the rule of law does not suffer.

Mr Kelly said: “It is fair to say that the US administration is anxious to ensure that there is an environment created for inward investment in Northern Ireland.

“Clearly, stability and progress in the political institutions is a key element. It would make our jobs a lot easier if that was the case.”