The British government could move to politically balance the Northern Ireland Policing Board if, in the event of devolution being restored, Ian Paisley's DUP ended up with five board seats.
The hypothetical situation is if the institutions were restored the d'Hondt system would mean the DUP might be in charge of four ministries, compared to two each for the UUP, Sinn Féin and SDLP. And if this was translated to the Policing Board appointments (and Sinn Féin still declined to take up their two seats) the DUP could claim five seats, the Ulster Unionists three, and SDLP two.
Such a development would mean that the political representation by unionists would outweigh nationalist representation 8-2 and would obviously not be sustainable.
Following the assembly election it is understood that a letter was sent to the Policing Board from the government.
Restoration of devolution seems unlikely at this stage but if it did happen sometime next year with the running of d'Hondt then obviously the make up of the board on the political side would change.
This letter made it clear in the event that the political balance of members on the Policing Board was to change then government might be obliged to run a further competition for civilian members, in order to ensure that the civilian representation was such as to compensate for the greater unionist representation.
The government has made this commitment before, but it is interesting that since the election they have made that commitment again in writing to the board.
The current board membership includes four UUP, three DUP and three SDLP seats plus a number of civilian appointees.
The board as presently constituted continues until restoration of devolution, so there is no problem at the moment.
In theory this board could continue for months and years but obviously at some stage the membership would have to be refreshed.
Meanwhile, the fall-out within Ulster unionism and the departure of Jeffrey Donaldson and fellow assembly members Arlene Foster and Norah Beare were still reverberating yesterday (Friday).
The three will now have to consider their position and whether they want to find a political home in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which, if they did, would bring the representation up to 33 seats in a future assembly.
A DUP spokesman confirmed that there has been a long standing invite for Mr Donaldson to come and join the party "and that still stands".
"In terms of our negotiating team (for the new year review talks) we are taking a very broad approach," the spokesman said.
"All of our assembly members are involved in formulating our strategy going into the negotiations.
"And if Jeffrey and his colleagues came over they would be playing the same sort of role.
"The invitation (for Mr Donaldson to join) is there and it has not changed since way back in June.
"A letter was sent to him by the Lagan Valley DUP Association," the spokesman added.
Asked about speculation on what ministries the DUP might get under devolution, the spokesman said: "There is no benefit in talking about running d'Hondt and us getting four ministries.
"That is looking at circumstances under the old arrangements and that is not going to happen.
"It is interesting to look at it, however, from the perspective of showing just how predominant the Democratic Unionist Party is within the unionist political picture," he said.
Last night SDLP chairman Alex Attwood cautioned that the British government has now to act firmly to make sure there is no encouragement given to those who think they can re-work or renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement.
"With DUP and anti-agreement politics emboldened then those who value the agreement have to be bold and daring in ensuring that it is implemented without any doubt or delay," Mr Attwood said.
"Government, particularly in Downing Street given that now doubt and delay is beginning to characterise their views on Cory, have to ensure there is not a further sense that the gathering strength of anti-agreement unionism can actually deal some further blows to the agreement," he added.
Alliance leader David Ford said that whatever party Mr Donaldson belongs to his views have clearly not changed.
"While it is interesting to speculate about future ministerial positions, the decision by the three MLAs to leave the Ulster Unionists is simply confirmation that the current assembly voting rules do not work and the d'Hondt method of allocating positions is not really fair and proportional," Mr Ford said.
"The need for an early, open and inclusive review of the agreement is now obvious to all.
"While the principles of the agreement stand, the mechanisms will have to be changed."
