Northern Ireland lawmakers vote to support next step in Catholic-Protestant co-operation

Northern Ireland lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking the next key step in making their Catholic-Protestant government work.

Three of the four parties in Northern Ireland's cross-community government voted Tuesday to create a new, locally run Justice Department. It will take control of the territory's police and courts from Britain next month in a long-awaited move.

The second-largest Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, voted against the painstakingly negotiated step despite lobbying from British and Irish officials as well as former U.S. President George W. Bush. The Ulster Unionists protested that the nearly three-year-old coalition was failing to exercise its existing powers responsibly and couldn't be trusted to oversee law and order.