[caption id="attachment_68142" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Peter Robinson."]
Sinn Féin has told Peter Robinson to "calm down" after he threatened to resign over changes to the Northern Ireland prison service's emblems.
The first minister said that dropping the crown as an emblem and changing the uniform of the service would not happen on his watch.
"I will resign and take this matter to the electorate," he said.
"It will be blocked, it is simply not on the agenda, and indeed, if (justice minister) David Ford ties this to his prison reform as something that is an inescapable part of the prison reform, then he will damage his whole project.
Minister Ford had told the assembly that changes in the culture of the prison service would have to be considered.
This comes after the prison service was criticized in several reports in recent years. The most recent report made 40 recommendations on how the Northern Ireland Prison Service could operate more efficiently.
Last February, an interim report labeled the service as dysfunctional, demoralized and ineffective.
As the row developed, Sinn Féin, which is in governing partnership with Robinson's Democratic Unionist Party, told the first minister to "calm down."
Sinn Féin's assembly group leader, Raymond McCartney, who is himself a former prisoner and hunger-striker, said: "prison reform needs to be allowed to take its course without this sort of intervention.
"There are big challenges out there and threatening resignations and elections is not what people voted for last May and it is not helpful."
Hardline unionist, Jim Allister, said many unionists would object to the removal of the crown symbol, or the title "Her Majesty's Prison."
