New Year Message from the Leader of Traditional Unionist Voice, Jim Allister MEP
01 January 2009
It is a natural time to look back at the year that is gone and forward to the year that is dawning.
2008 was TUV’s first full year of existence. We certainly made our mark, punching well above our weight and inflicting discomfort and damage on the DUP/Sinn Fein regime at Stormont. The Dromore by-election sent shockwaves through the political establishment and gave hope to tens of thousands of democrats who reject terrorists at the heart of government. Within days, because of our 800 votes in Dromore, one Junior Minister was gone, to be followed shortly thereafter by the first part of the Chuckle Coalition. Think what tens of thousands of such votes in 2009 could do!
But 2008 was also an object lesson in the instability of mandatory coalition and the unworkability of the dysfunctional office of the Joint First Ministers. For almost half the year we had a “won’t meet, can’t meet” Executive, as Sinn Fein brought to the door of government the same bully boy tactics their IRA had previously deployed on the streets. To solve the crisis, for now, the DUP blinked, conceding republicans’ demands for policing and justice in 2009, an Irish Language Strategy, the Maze Shrine and the ESA, the control mechanism demanded by Ruane in education. It was a humiliating climbdown, which took us back to the concession a day politics for which Trimble was so despised.
Though democracy has been subverted, through the machinations of now fully operational Belfast Agreement devolution, built on the iniquitous premise that you can never vote a party out of government, at least in 2009 the electorate will have their say. On 4th June in the European Election I look forward, if spared, to offering every democrat the opportunity not just to continue strong representation in Brussels, but to pass their verdict on IRA/Sinn Fein in government and those who let them in. I believe traditional and democratic unionists across the Province will rally to say “Not in My Name”, in respect of what is going on at Stormont.
I expect an avalanche of disingenuous propaganda, none greater than the audacious claim that only the DUP can keep Sinn Fein from topping the poll – not that they really care, because if they truly cared about thwarting the advance of Sinn Fein they would not have hoisted them to the top of the government pole. You can’t prop up Sinn Fein in government 9 to 5 and then go out, with credibility, at night to tell voters you are the ones to fight the Shinners. Voters will see right through such hypocrisy and know if they want 24/7 opposition to Sinn Fein and a principled stand both at home and abroad, then it is offered by TUV.
With a strong result in June we can unpick the evil spectacle of terrorist-dependent government and set about the process of bringing democratic and durable devolution to Northern Ireland, if that is the preferred option of its people. How is such attained? Exactly as anywhere else, through parties who can agree negotiating a coalition, after an election, and those that can command the requisite majority in the Assembly – which could even be a weighted majority of 60% to guarantee cross-community composition - form the government and the rest become a vibrant Opposition, offering an alternative government at the next election. This is how standard democracy works. If others want to partner IRA/Sinn Fein in government, then let them do it openly and honestly, instead of hiding behind mandatory coalition, and we who do not will provide opposition, if they command the majority. No party can be allowed a veto on government. If Sinn Fein is only operating the system so long as they are guaranteed a place in government, then we are being blackmailed as well as conned.
So my vision for the future is a positive one, based on core, but undiluted, democratic principles, where all get a fair deal, but none a favoured deal, particularly because of the threat and muscle they bring to the table.
2009 looks certain to herald more tough economic times. The volatility of the global crisis will affect us all. We need caring but firm government, where business, the life blood of our economy, is helped to prosper. The heavy hand of EU regulation must be lifted. Hard working families, not the work shy, must be our top priority. I will continue in Brussels to fight for our key economic sectors and rightful entitlements.
I wish you all a peaceful and prosperous 2009.
