Let 'NEVER AGAIN' be the united response of Unionism if mandatory coalition falls - Allister

22 January 2010

Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister QC:-

“Adams’ blog is as condescending as it is replete with arrant nonsense, not least in its distortion of TUV’s position – we certainly wouldn’t have a terrorist about the place of government, but we are not in the business of excluding Catholics.

“The mindset Adams reveals illustrates why coalition with IRA/Sinn Fein will never work. Emboldened by the fact that some foolishly elevated his organisation to the top and heart of government, he now believes he can demand abject surrender to his all-Ireland agenda. The same coercive force which lay behind their use of the armalite still lies behind their misuse of the ballot.

“If the mandatory coalition, which has never worked, now falls then the united determination of all Unionists should be that there is no going back to such failure. ‘Never Again’ should be the watchword of Unionism. That should be the unifying ground for all Unionists.

“If Sinn Fein is ever again to enter government it should only be by the democratic route of voluntary coalition, obtained by persuading, not coercing, others to share power on an agreed programme, with the electorate – as anywhere else in the world – having the right to vote parties out of government at successive elections. Those parties which can agree a platform and collectively command the requisite majority in the Assembly form the government, those who cannot form the Opposition. That’s democracy! If Sinn Fein, as it appears, are only ‘democrats’ so long as they are in government, then, they are not democrats at all!

“So let Sinn Fein pull down this miserable failed Executive, but let the response of Unionism be that they will never again operate mandatory coalition.”

NI politics